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People's Edition. Price 75 cents. 

GENERAL BUTLER 



» 



NEW ORLEANS. 




BY 



JAMES PARTON. 



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General Tiv\t\eY \\\ Xe>\ Orleaus. A History of the 

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Fourteenth edition. Crown octavo, with Portrait on Steel and Maps. 650 pages. 

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FEOFXjE'S EIDITIOISr. 



GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS; 



BEINO A 



HISTORY OF THE ADMINISTRATION 



DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF 



IN THE YEAR 1862: 



AN ACCOUNT- OF THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS, AND A 

SKETCH OF THE PREVIOUS CAREER OF THE 

GENERAL, CIVIL AND MILITARY. 



By JAMES PARTON, 

AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE AND TIMES OF AARON BURR," "LIFE OP 
ANDREW JACKSON," ETC., ETC. 



^ ^ NEW YORK : 

MASON BROTHERS, No. 7 MERCER STREET. 

FOR SALE BY 

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BOSTON: MASON & HAMLIN. PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS & CO. 

1864. 




^, ^./J^^ 



"Whatever they call h i ji , w u a .t care i ! 
Aristocrat, Democrat, Autocrat, — one 
Who can rule and dare not he." — Maud. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S63, by 

mason brothers, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southera 
District of New Yorlt. 



Entered according to Act of Consrress, in tlie year 1S64, by 

MASON BROTHERS, 

I'' \:.i- Clerk's Office of the District Court uf the United States for the Southern 
District of New York. 



Z ^-2. "il 



In tliis edition some of the longer documents have b^eii omitted or abridged, 
but the general course of the narrative remains unchanged, aud nothing \\aji 
been omitted which is necessary for the understanding of the various subjects 
treated in the work. 



8TKKEOTVPED BY I'lUNTF.D BY 

Smith i^McDuirOAL, C. A. Alvokd, 

S2 <b 84 Beeiuian St. 15 Vandewatku St. 



PREFACE, 



It can not be necessary to apologize for an attempt to relate the history of the most remarka- 
ble episode of the war, respecting which opinions so violently contradictory are expressed, both 
at home and abroad. The vindication of the country itself seems to require that a policy should, 
at least, be understood, which the country has accepted as just, wise, and humane, and which 
the enemies of the country, foreign and domestic, denounce as arbitrary, savage, and brutal. 

It is, however, of the first necessity to state how this book came to be written, and from what 
sources its contents have been derived. 

In common with the other devotees of the Union and the Flag, I had watched the proceedings 
of General Butler in Louisiana with interest and approval ; and shared also the indignation 
with which they regarded the perverse misinterpretation put upon his measures by the faction 
which has involved the Southern States in ruin, and by their "neutral" allies abroad. 

Upon the return of General Butler to the North, I wrote to him, saying that I should like to 
write an account of his administration of tha Department of the Gulf, as well as a slighter sketch 
of the previous military career of a man who, wherever he had been employed, has shown aa 
ability equal to the occasion ; but that this could not be done, and ought not to be attempted, 
without his consent aijd co-operation. 

To this, the general thus replied : 

" I am too much flattered by your request, and will endeavor to give you every assistance in 
the direction you mention. My letter and order books shall be at your disposal, as well as the 
official and unofficial correspondence directed to me. If I can, by personal conversation, eluci- 
date many matters wherein otherwise history might be a perversion of the truth, I will be at 
your service. 

" One thing I beg shall be understoood between us, however (as I have no doubt it would 
have been without this paragraph), that while I will furnish you with every possible facility to 
learn everything done by me in New Orleans and elsewhere, it will be upon the express condi- 
tion that you shall report it in precisely the manner you may choose, without the slightest sense 
of obligation ' aught to extenuate' because of the source from which you derive the material of 
your work; and farther, that no sense of delicacy of position, in relation to myself, shall inter- 
fere with the closest investigation of every act alleged to have been done or permitted by me. 
I will only ask that upon all matters I may have the privilege of presenting to your mind the 
documentary and other evidences of the fact." 

I had not the pleasure of General Butler's personal acquaintance, but our correspondence 
ended with my going to Lowell, where I lived for a considerable time in the general's own 
house, and received from him, from his staff, and from Mrs. Butler, every kind of aid they could 
render for the work proposed. "We talked ten hours a day, and Uved immersed in the multitudi- 
nous papers and letters relating to the events which have excited so much controversy. The 
general placed at my disposal the whole of those papers and letters, besides giving the most 
valuable verbal elucidations, and relating many anecdotes previously unrecorded. 

Respecting the manner in which the material should be used, he did not then, and has not 
since, made a single suggestion of any kind. He left me perfectly free in every respect. Nor 
has he seen a line of the manuscript, nor asked a question about it. 

Therefore, while the whole value and the greater part of the interest of this volume are due 
to the aid afforded by General Butler, he is not to be held responsible for anything in it except 
his own writings. If I have misunderstood or misinterpreted any event or person, or used the 
papers injudiciously, at my door let all the blame be laid, for it is wholly my fault. 



CONTENTS. 



Cmapter 

I. — General Butler before the War . 
II. — Massachusetts Ready .... 

III. — Annapolis 

IV. — Baltimore ....... 

V. — Fortress Monroe ..... 

VI. — IIatteras ....... 

VII. — Recruiting for Special Service 

VIII. — Ship Island 

IX. — Reduction of the Forts .... 
X. — The Panic in New Orleans . 
XI. — New Orleans will not Surrender . 
XII. — Landing in New Orleans . . • . 

XIII. — Feeding and Employing the Poor . 
XIV.— The Woman Order . . . . ' .• 
XV. — Execution of Mumford .... 
XVI. — General Butler and the Foreign Consuls 
XVII. — Efforts toward Restoration . 
XVIII. — The Effect in New Orleans op our Losses 
XIX. — The Sheep and the Goats 

XX. — The Confiscation Act .... 
XXI. — More of the Iron Hand .... 
XXII. — The Negro Question — First Difficulties 
XXIII. — General Butler Arms the Free Colored 

Work for the Fugitive Slaves 
XXIV. — Representative Negro Anecdotes . 

XXV. — Military Operations 
XXVI. — Routine of a Day in New Orleans 

XXVIL— Recall 

XXVIII.— At Home 

XXIX.— Summary 

Appendices ..... 



N Virginia 



Men, and 



GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS. 



CHAPTER L 

GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 

He came of fighting stock. His father's 
father, Captain Zephaniah Butler, of Woodbury, 
Connecticut, fought under General Wolfe at 
Quebec, and served in the continental army 
through tlie war of the revolution. A large 
old-fashioned powder-horn, covered with quaint 
carving, done by this old soldier's own hand and 
jack-knife, which was slung at his side when he 
climbed the hights of Quebec, and the sword 
which he wore during the war for independence, 
now hang in the library of General Butler at 
Lowell, the relics of an honorable career. The 
mother of General Butler descends from the 
Cilleys of New Hampshire, a doughty race of 
Scotch-Irish origin; one of whom fought at the 
battle of the Boyne on the wrong side. That 
valiant Colonel Cilley, who at the battle of Ben- 
nington commanded a company that had never 
seen a cannon, and who, to quiet their appre- 
hensions, sat astride of one while it was dis- 
charged, was an ancestor of our general. Mr. 
Cilley, member of congress from Maine, who 
was shot in a memorable duel, twenty-five years 
ago, was the general's cousin. Thus the tide 
that courses the veins of Benjamin Franklin 
Butler is composed, in about equal parts, of that 
blood which we call Anglo-Saxon, and of that 
strenuous fluid which gives such tenacity and 
audacity to the Scotch-Irish. Such a mixture 
affords promise of a mitigated Andrew Jackson 
or of a combative Benjamin Franklin. 

The father of General Butler was John But- 
ler, of Deerfleld, New Hampshire ; captain of 
dragoons during the war of 1812 ; a faithful 
soldier who served for a while under General 
Jackson at New Orleans, and there conceived 
such love for that tough old hero, as to name 
his first boy Andrew Jackson. After the war, 
he engaged in the West India trade, sailing 
sometimes as supercargo, sometimes as merchant, 
sometimes as captain of the schooner, enjoying 
for several years a moderate sufficient prosperity. 
In politics, a democrat, of the pure Jeffersonian 
school ; and this at a time when in New Hamp- 
shire to be a democrat was to live under a social 
ban. He was one of the few who gave gallant 
support to young Isaac Hill, of the New Hamp- 
shire Patriot, the paper which at length brought 
the state into democratic line. He was a friend, 
personal as weJl as political, of Isaac Hill, and 
shared with him the odium and the fierce joy of 
those early contests with powerful and arrogant 
federalism. A ' hearted' democrat was Captain 
Butler: one whose democracy was part of his 
religion. In Deerfleld, where he lived, there 



were but eight democratic voters, who formed a 
little brotherhood, apart from their fellow towns- 
men, shunned by the federalists as men who 
would have been dangerous from their principles 
if they had not been despicable from their few- 
ness. His boys, therefore, were born into the 
ranks of an abhorred but positive and pugna- 
cious minority — a little spartan band, always 
battling, never subdued, never victorious. 

In March, 1819, Captain Butler, while lying 
at one of the West India Islands with his vessel, 
died of yeUow fever, leaving to the care of their 
mother his two boys, Benjamin being then an 
infant five months old. A large part of his 
property he had with him at the time of his 
death, and little of it ever found its way to his 
widow. She was left to rear her boys as best 
she could, with slender means of support. But 
it is in such circumstances that a New England 
mother shows the stuff she is made of. Capable, 
thrifty, diligent, devoted, Mrs. Butler made the 
most of her means and opportunities, and suc- 
ceeded in giving to one of her boys a good 
country education, and helped the other on his 
way to college, and to a liberal profession. She 
lives still, to enjoy in the success of both of them, 
the fruit of her self-denying labors and wise 
management; they proud to own that to her 
they owe whatever renders them worthy of it, 
and thanking God that she is near them to dig- 
nify and share their honors and their fortune. 

General Butler was born at Deerfleld, an agri- 
cultural town of New Hampshire, on Guy Faux 
day, the flfth of November, 1818. 

The fatherless boy was small, sickly, tractable, 
averse to quarrels, and happy in having a stout 
elder brother to take his part. Reading and 
writing seem to come by nature in New Eng- 
land, for few of that country can recollect a time 
when they had not those accomplishments. The 
district school helped him to spelling, figures, a 
little geography, and the rudiments of grammar. 
He soon caught that passion for reading which 
seizes some New England boys, and sends them 
roaming and ravaging in their neighborhood for 
printed paper. His experience was like that of 
his father's friend, Isaac Hill, who limped the 
country round for books, reading almanacs, 
newspapers, tracts, " Law's Serious CaU," the 
Bible, fragments of histories, and all printed 
things that fell in his way. The boy hunted for 
books as some boys hunt for birds'-nests and 
early apples; and, in the grqjit scarcity of the 
article, read the few he had so often as to learn 
large portions of them by heart ; devouring with 
special eagerness the story of the revolution, and 
all tales of battle and adventure. The Bible 
was his mother's sufficient library, and the boy 
' pleased her by committing to memory long pa.s- 



6 



G-ENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



sages ; onco, the whole book of Matthew. His 
memory tlien, as always, was something won- 
derful. He can, at this hour, repeat more poetr}'^, 
perhaps, than any other person in the country 
who lias not made the repeating of poetry a 
profession. His mother, observing this gift, and 
considering the apporent weakness of his con- 
stitution, early conceived the desire of giving 
him a Uberal education, cherishing also the fond 
hope, as New England mothers M'ould in those 
days, that her boy would be drawn to enter the 
ministry. 

One chilly' morning in November, 1821, when 
ho was in his fourth year, half a dozen sharp- 
eyed Boston gentlemen, Nathan Appletou being 
one of thorn, might have been seen (but were 
not) tramping about in the snow near the Falls 
of the Merrimac. There was a hamlet near by 
of five or si.^ houses, and a store, but these 
gentlemen wandered along the banks of the 
river among the rocks and trees, unobserved, 
conversing with animation. The result of that 
morning's walk and talk was the city of Lowell, 
now a place of forty thousand inhabitants, with 
thirteen millions invested in cotton and woolen 
mills, and two hundred thousand dollars a month 
paid in wages to operatives. In 1828, when our 
young friend was ten years old, and Lowell was 
a thriving town of two thousand inhabitants, his 
mother removed thither with her boys. 

It was a fortunate move for them all. The 
good mother was enabled to increase her income 
by taking a few boarders, and her book-loving 
son had better schools to attend, and abundant 
books at command. Ho improved these oppor- 
tunities, graduating from a common school to the 
high sciiool, and, at a later day, preparing for 
college at the academy of Exeter in his native 
state. 

As the time approached for his entering col- 
lege, the question was anxiously discussed in the 
family, What college?" 

The boy was decided in favor of "West Point. 
Nor was a cadetship unattainable, in the days 
of Jackson and Isaac Hill, to the son of Captain 
John Butler. But the cautious mother hesitated. I 
She feared he would forget his religion, and 
disappoint her dream of seeing him in the pulpit 
of a Baptist church. She consulted her minister 
up5h the subject. He agreed with her, and 
recommended Watervillo college, in Maine, re- 
cently founded by the Baptists, with a special 
view to the education of young men for the 
ministry. It promised, also, the advantage of a 
manual labor department, in which the youth, 
by working three hours a day, could earn part 
of his expenses. At Watervillo, moreover, there 
could be no danger of the student's neglecting 
religion, since the great object of the college 
was the inculcation of religion, and all the in- 
fluences of the place were religious. The presi- 
dent himself was a clergyman, several of the 
professors were clergymen. Attendance at 
church on Sundays was compulsory, and there 
was even a fine of ten cents for every unexcused 
absence from prayers. Witli such safeguards, 
what danger could there be to the religious 
principles instilled into the mind of the young 
man from his earliest childhood? Thus argued 
the minister. The mother gave heed to his 
opinions, and the youth was consigned to Water- 
Vilie. 



He was a slender lad of sixteen, small of 
stature, health inlirm, of fair complexion, and 
hair of reddish brown ; his character conspicu- 
ously shown in the remarkable form of his head. 
Over his eyes an immense development of the 
perceptive powers, and the upper (brehead 
retreating almost like that of a Flat-head Indian. 
A youth of keen vision, fiery, inquisitive, fear- 
less; nothing yet developed in him but ardent 
c\iriosity to know, and perfect memory to retain. 
Phrenologists would find proof of their theory 
in comparing the portrait of the youth with the 
well-rounded head of the man mature, his organs 
developed by a quarter of a century of intense 
and constant use of them. Ilis purse wa= most 
slenderly furnished. His mother could afford 
him little help. A good New Hampshire undo 
gave him some assistance now and then, and ho 
worked his three hours a day in ^he manual 
labor department at chair-making, earning wages 
ridiculously small. He was compelled to remain 
in debt for a considerable part" of his college 
expenses. 

The college was of vast benefit to our young 
friend, as any college must have been, conducted 
in the interests of virtue, and attended by a 
hundred and seventj'-five young men from the 
simple and industrious homes of New England; 
most of them eager to improve, and perfectly 
aware that upon themselves alone depended the 
success of their future career. If he was prono 
to undervalue some parts of the college course, 
he made most liberal use of the college library. 
He was an omnivorous reader. All the natural 
sciences were interesting to him, particularly 
chemistry; and his fondness for such studies 
inclined him long to choose the medical pro- 
fession. No student went better prepared to the 
class-room of the professor of natural philo.sophy. 

Seduced by his example, there arose a party 
in the college opposed to the regular course of 
studies, advocates of an unregulated browse 
among the books of the library, each student to 
read only such subjects as interested him. 
There was a split in the Literary Society. Of 
the retiring body, after imnicnse electioneering, 
young Butler was elected president, and the 
question was then debated with extreme earnest- 
ness for several weeks, whether the mind would 
faro better by confining itself to the college 
routine, or by reading whatever it had appetite 
for. I know not which party carried the day ; 
but our friend was foremost in raaintaiuiug i)oth 
by speech and example, that knowledge was 
knowledge, however obtained, and that the 
mind could get most advantage by partaking of 
the kind of nutriment it craved. He Liiil a 
wager with a noted plodder of the college, that 
he would continue for a given term liis desultory 
reading, and yet beat him in the regular lessons 
of the class. The wager was won by an artilice. 
Ho did continue his desultory reading, as well 
as his desultory wanderings about the country, 
but late at niglit, when all the college slept, ho 
spent some hours in vigorous c)-am for the next 
day's lesson. His memory was such, that he 
found it easier to commit to memory such iessona 
as " Wayland's Moral Philosophy," than to pro- 
pare them in the usual way. He astonished his 
plodding friend ono day, by repeating thirteen 
pages of Waylaud, without once hesitating. 

He came into collision with his reverend 



GE^^RAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



instructors on a, point of college discipline. The 
fine of ten cents imposed for absence from 
prayers, was a serious matter to a young gen- 
tleman naturally averse to getting up before 
daylight, and who earned not more than two or 
three ten cent pieces daily in the chair shop. But 
it was not of the fine that he complained. It 
was a rule of the college that the fine sliould 
carry with it a loss of standing in class. This 
our student esteemed unjust, and he thought ho 
had good reason to complain since, though, upon 
the whole, a good scholar, he was always on the 
point of expulsion for the loss of marks for his 
morning delinquency. He took an opportunity, 
at lengtli, to protest against this apparent in- 
justice in a highly audacious and characteristic 
manner. One of the professors, a distinguished 
theologian, preached in the college church, a 
Bermon of the severest Calvinistic type, in the 
course of which he maintained propositions like 
these : 1. The Elect, and the Elect alone, will 
be saved. 2. Of the people commonly called 
Christians, probably not more than one in a 
hundred will be saved. 3. The heathen have a 
better chance of salvation than the inhabitants 
of Christian countries who ncglQct their oppor- 
tunities. Upon these hints the young gentleman 
spake. He drew up a petition to the faculty, 
couched in the language of profound respect, 
asking to be excused from further attendance at 
prayers and sermons, on the grounds so ably 
sustained in the discourse of the preceding Sun- 
day. If, he said, the doctrine of that sermon 
■was sound, of which he would not presume to 
entertain a doubt, he was only preparing for 
himself a future of more exquisite anguish by 
attending religious services. He begged to be 
allowed to remind the faculty, that the church in 
which the sermon was preached, had usually a 
congregation of six hundred persons, nine of 
whom were his revered professors and tutors ; 
and as only one in a hundred of ordinary Chris- 
tians could be saved, three even of the faculty, 
good men as all of them were, were inevitably 
damned. Could he, a mere student, and not one 
of the most exemplary, expect to be saved be- 
fore his superiors ? Far be fi-om him a thought 
Bo presumptuous. Shakspeare himself had inti- 
mated that the lieutenant cannot e.xpect salva- 
tion before his mihtary superior. Nothing re- 
mained, therefore, for him but perdition. In 
this melancholy posture of affairs, it became him 
to beware of hightening his future torment by 
listening to the moving eloquence of the pulpit. 
Or availing himself of any of the privileges of 
religion. But here he was met by the college 
laws, which compelled attendance at chapel and 
church ; which imposed a pecuniary fine for 
non-attendance, and entailed a loss of the honors 
due to his scholarship. Threatened thus with 
damnation in the next world, bankruptcy and 
disgrace in this, he implored the merciful con- 
sideration of the faculty, and asked to be ex- 
cused from all further attendance at prayers and 
at church. 

This unique petition was drawn with the ut- 
most care, and the reasoning full}' elaborated. 
Handsomely copied, and folded into the usual 
form of important public documents, it was sent 
to the president. The faculty did not take the 
joke. Before the whole college in chapel assem- 
bled, the culprit standing, he was reprimanded 



for irreverence. It was rumored at the time 
that he narrowly escaped expulsion. He had a 
friend or two in the faculty who, perhaps, could 
forgive the audacity of the petition for the sako 
of its humor. 

It must be owned that the Calvinistic the- 
ology in vogue at 'Waterville,'did not commend 
itself to the mind of this young man. Ho was 
formed by nature to be an antagonist ; and youth 
is an antagonist regardless of remote consequen- 
ces. At West Point he would have battled for 
his hereditary tenets against all who had ques- 
tioned them. At Waterville, nothing pleased 
him better than to measure logic with the 
staunchest doctor of them all. R chanced 
toward the close of his college course, that the 
worthy president of the institution delivered a 
course of lectures upon miracles, maintaining 
these two propositions; 1. If the miracles aro 
true, the gospel is of Divine origin and authority. 
2. The miracles are true, because the apostles, 
who must have known whether they were true 
or false, proved their belief in their truth by 
their martj^rdom. At the close of each discourse, 
the lecturer invited the class to offer objections. 
Young Butler seized the opportunity with alac- 
rity, and plied the doctor hard with the usual 
arguments employed by the heterodox. He did 
not fail to furnish himself with a catalogue of 
martyrs who had died in the defense and for the 
sole sake of dogmas now universally conceded 
to be erroneous. All rehgions, he said, boasted 
their army of martyrs ; and martyrdom proved 
nothing — not even the absolute sincerity of the 
martyr. And as to the apostles, Peter notoriously 
denied his Lord, Thomas was an avov/ed skeptic, 
James and John were slain to please the Jews, 
and the last we heard of Paul was, that he was 
living in his own hired house, commending the 
government of Nero. The debate continued 
day after day, our youth cramming diligently 
for each encounter, always eager for the fray. 
He chanced to find in the village a copy of that 
armory of unbelief, " Taylor's Diegesis of the 
New Testament," and from this, he and his 
comrades secretly drew missives to let fly at the 
president after lecture. The doctor maintained 
his ground ably and manfully, little thinking 
that he was contending, not with a few saucy 
students, but with the accumulated skeptical 
ingenuity of centuries. 

All this, I need scarcely say, was mere intel- 
lectual exercise and sport. General Butler, du- 
ring the whole of his mature life, has been a 
liberal supporter of the church, and an advocate 
of its institutions and requirements. 

His college course was done. He would have 
graduated with honor, if his standing as a 
scholar had not been lost through his delinquen- 
cies as a rebel. As it was, it was touch-and-go, 
whether he could be permitted to graduate at 
all. He was, however, assigned a low place in 
the graduating class, and bore off as good a 
piece of parchment as the best of them. He 
had outlived his early preference for the medical 
profession. In one of his last years at college, 
he had witnessed in court a well-contested trial, 
and as he marked with admiration the skillful 
management of the opposing counsel, and shared 
the keen excitement of the strife, he said to 
himself; " This is the work for me." Ho left 
college in debt, and with health impaired. He 



GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



weighed but ninety-seven pounds. In all the 
world, there was no one to whom ho could look 
for help, save himself alone. 

Yet, in the nick of time, he found a friend 
who gave him just the aid he needed most. It 
was an uncle, captain of a fishing schooner, one 
of those kind and bravo old sailors of Yankee 
land, who, for two hundred years, have roamed 
the northern seas in quest of something to keep 
the pot boiling on the rock-bound shores of Home. 
The good-hearted captain observed the pale 
visage and attenuated form of his nephew. 
"Come with me, lad, to the coast of Labrador, 
and heave a line this summer. I'll give you a 
bunk in the cabin, but you must do your duty 
before the mast, watch and watch like a man. 
I'll warrant you'll come back sound enough in 
the fall." Thus, the ancient mariner. The 
young man went to the coast of Labrador; 
hove a line ; ate the flesh and drank the oil of 
cod ; came back, after a four months" craise in 
perfect health, and had not another sick day in 
twenty years. His constitution developed into 
the toughest, the most indefatigable compound 
of brain, nerve and muscle lately seen in New 
England. A gift of twenty thousand dollars 
had been a paltry boon in comparison with that 
bestowed upon him by this wortliy uncle. 

He returned to Lowell in his twentieth year, 
and took hold of life with a vigorous grasjj. The 
law office which he entered as a student, was 
that of a gentleman who spent most of his time 
in Boston, and from whom he received not one 
word of guidance or instruction ; nor felt the 
need of one. He read law with all his might, 
and began almost immediately to practice a 
little in the police courts at Lowell, conducting 
suits brought by the factory girls against the 
mill corporations, and defending petty criminal 
cases; glad enough to earn an occasional two 
dollar fee. The presiding justice chanced to be 
a really learned lawyer and able man, and thus 
this small practice was a valuable aid to the 
student. Small indeed were his gains, and sore 
his need. One six mouths of his two years' 
probation, ho taught a public school in Lowell, 
in order to procure decent clothing; and he 
taught it well, say his old pupils. "What with 
his school, his law studies, and his occasional 
practice, he worked eighteen hours in the twen- 
ty-four. 

At this time he joined the Lowell Phalanx, a 
company of that Sixth regiment of Massachu- 
setts militia, so famous in these years for its 
bloody march through Baltimore. Always fond 
of military pursuits and exercises, ho has served 
in every grade — private, corporal, sergeant, 
third lieutenant, second lieutenant, first lieu- 
tenant, captain, major, lieutenaut-colonel, colonel, 
and brigadier-general; making it a point to hold 
every oue of these positions in due succession. 
For many years, the drills, parades and annual 
encampings of his regiment were the only re- 
creation for which he would find leisure — much 
to the wonder of his professional friends, who 
were wont, in the old, peaceful times, to banter 
him severely upon what seemed to them a rather 
ridiculous foible. " "What a fool you are," they 
would say, " to spend so much time in marching 
around town in soldier-clothes 1" This young 
gentleman, however, was one of those who take 
hold of life as they find it ; not disdaining the 



duties of a citizen of a free country, but rejoicing 
in them, and making them serve his pui'poses, as 
they should. 

A trifling incident of these early years marks 
at once the Yankee and the man. That every- 
day wonder of the modern world, a locomotive, 
was then first seen at Lowell. Many of us re- 
member seeing our first locomotive, and how we 
comported ourselves on the interesting occasion. 
Our young lawyer behaved thus ; In company 
with his friend, the engineer, he visited the 
wondrous engine at its own house, and spent 
five hours in studying it, questioning both it and 
its master until he understood the why and the 
wherefore of every part, and felt competent to 
navigate the machine to Boston. This small 
anecdote contains the essence of old New Eng- 
land ; which is expressed also in one of the 
country exclamations; "I want to hiow!" 

In 1810, being then twenty-two years of age, 
he was admitted to the bar. An early incident 
brought him into favor with some of the mill- 
owners. There was a strike among his friends 
and patrons, the girls ; two or three thousand of 
whom assembled in a grove near Lowell, to talk 
over their grievances and organize for their 
redress. They invited the young lawyer to ad- 
dress them, and he accepted the invitation. It 
was a unique position for a gentleman of twenty- 
two, not wanting in the romantic element, to 
stand before an audience of three thousand 
young ladies, the well-instructed daughters of 
New England farmers and mechanics. He gave 
Ihem sound advice, such as might have come 
from an older head. Admitting the justice of 
their claims, he showed the improbability of 
their obtaining them at a time when labor was 
abundant, and places in the mills were sought 
by more girls than could be employed. The 
mill-owners, he said, could, at that time, allow 
their mifls to st-and idle for a considerable period 
without serious loss — perhaps, even with advan- 
tage ; but could the girls allbrd to lose any con- 
siderable part of a season's wages? Strikes 
were always a doubtful, and often a desperate 
measure, and entailed suffering upon the opera- 
tives a thousand times greater than the evils 
for which they sought redress. The time might 
come when a strike would be the only course 
left them ; but, at present, ho counseled other 
measures. He concluded by strongly advising 
the girls to return to their work, and endeavor 
by remonstrance, and, if that failed, by appeals 
to the legislature, to procure a shorter day and 
juster compensation. The girls took his advice 
and returned to work. 

The day's work in the mills was then thirteen 
hours — a literally killing period. Thirteen 
hours a day in a mill means this ; incessant 
activity from five in the morning until nine in 
the evening the year round. It means a tired 
and useless Sunday. It means torpidity or 
death to all the nobler faculties. It means a 
white and bloated face, a diseased and languid 
body, a premature death. As much as to any 
other man in Massachusetts the subsequent 
change to eleven hours was owing to " the gurls' 
lawyer," as we shall see in a moment. 

His advice to the girls, at their mass-meeting 
in the grove, was well pleasing to the lords ol 
the mili, some of whom, from this time, gave him 
occasional employment. 



GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



But our young friend remained a democrat — 
a democrat during the administration of General 
Jackson — a democrat in Lowell, supposed to bo 
the creation of tliat protective tariflf which a de- 
mocratic majority had reduced and was reducing ! 
It was like living at Capo Cod and voting against 
the fishing bounties, or in Louisiana and oppos- 
ing the sugar duty. And this particular democrat 
was a man without secrets and without guile ; 
positive, antagonistic and twenty-two; a friend 
and disciple of Isaac Hill, and one who had seen 
that little lame hero of democracy assaulted by 
the huge Upham in the streets of Exeter, with 
feelings not unutterable. In such odium were his 
opinions held in Lowell at that time, that he 
could not appear at the tavern table in court time 
without being tabooed or insulted. The first 
day of his sitting at dinner with the bar, the 
discussion grew so hot that the main business of 
the occasion was neglected, and he concluded 
that if he meant to take sustenance at all he 
must dine elsewhere. He did so for one day ; 
but feehng that such a course looked like aban- 
doning the field, he returned on the day follow- 
ing, and faced the music to the end of the session. 
His audacity and quickness stood him in good 
stead at this period. One of his first cases being 
called in court, he said, in the usual way, " Let j 
notice be given 1" 

" In what paper ?" asked the aged clerk of the j 
court, a strenuous whig. i 

" In the Lowell Advertiser,''^ was the reply ; the I 
Lowell Advertiser being a Jackson paper, never 
mentioned in a Lowell court ; of whose mere 
existence, few there present would confess a 
knowledge. 

^' The Loioell Advertiser?" said the clerk, with 
disdainful nonchalance, " I don't know such a 
paper." 

" Pray, Mr. Clerk, " said the lawyer, " do not 
interrupt the proceedings of the court ; for if you 
begin to tell us what you don't know, there will 
be no time for anything else." 

He was always prompt with a retort of this 
kind. So, at a later day, when he was cross- 
questioning a witness in not the most respectful 
manner, and the court interposing, I'eminded him 
that the witness was a professor in Harvard 
college, he instantly replied; "I am aware of it, 
your honor ; we hung one of them the other 
day." 

His politics were not, in reality, an obstacle to 
his success at the bar, though his friends feared 
they would be. There are two sides to every 
suit ; and as people go to law to win, they are 
not likely to overlook an advocate who, besides 
the ordinary motives to exertion, has the stimulus 
of political and social antagonism. He won his 
way rapidly to a lucrative practice, and with 
Butiicient rapidity, to an important, leading, con- 
spicuous practice. He was a bold, diligent, vehe- 
ment, inexhaustible opponent. 

In some important particulars. General Butler 
surpassed all his contemporaries at the New 
England bar. His memory was such, that he 
could retain the whole of the testimony of the 
very longest trial without taking a note. His 
power of labor seemed unlimited. In fertility of 
of expedient, and in tlie lightning quickness of 
his devices, to snatch victory from the jaws of 
defeat, his equal has seldom lived. To these 
gifts, add a perseverance that knew no discour- 



agement, and never accepted defeat while one 
possibility of triumph remained. One who saw 
him much at the bar in former times, wrote of 
him three years ago : 

" His devices and shifts to obtain an aquittal 
and release are absolutely endless and innumer- 
able. He is never daunted or baffled until the 
sentence is passed and put into execution, and 
the reprieve, pardou, or commutation is refused. 
An indictment must be drawn with tlie great- 
est nicety, or it will not stand his criticism. A 
verdict of guilty is nothing to him; it is only the 
beginning of the case ; he has fifty exceptions ; 
a hundred motions in arrest of judgment ; and 
after that the habeas corpus and personal replevin. 
The opposing counsel never begins to feel safe 
until the evidence is aU in ; for he knows not 
what new dodges Butler may spring upon him. 
He is more fertile in expedients than any man 
who practices law among us. His expedients 
frequently fail, but tliey are generally plausible 
enough to bear the test of trial. And faulty and 
weak as they oftentimes are, Butler always has 
confidence in them to the last ; and when one 
fliils, he invariably tries another. If it were not 
that there must be an end to everything, his 
desperate cases would never be finished, for there 
would be no end to his expedients to obtain his 
case." 

An old friend and fellow-practitioner of General 
Butler, Mr. J. Q. A. A. GrifBn, of Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, favors the reader with an anec- 
dote; 

" General Butler was a member of our house of 
representatives one year, when his party was in 
a hopeless and impotent minority, except on 
such occasions as he contrived to make it efficient 
by tactics and stratagems of a technical, parlia- 
mentary character. The speaker was a whig, and 
a thorough partisan. The whigs were well drill- 
ed and had a leader on the floor of very great 
capacity, Mr. Lord of Salem. During one angry 
debate. General Butler attempted to strangle an 
obnoxious proposal of the majority by tactics. 
Accordingly he precipitated upon the chair divers 
questions of order and regularity of proceeding, 
one after the other. These were debated by Mr. 
Lord and himself, and then decided by the speak- 
er uniformly according to the notions advanced 
by Mr. Lord. The general bore this for some 
time without special complaint, contenting him- 
self with raising new questions. At length, 
however, he called special attention to the fact 
that he had been overruled so many times by the 
chair, within such a space of time, and that, as 
often not only had the speaker adopted the re- 
sult of Mr. Lord's suggestions, but generally had 
accepted the same words in whicli to announce 
it ; and, said he, 'Mr. Speaker, I cannot complain 
of these rulings. They doubtless seem to the 
speaker to be just. I perceive an anxiety on 
your part to be just to the minority and to me 
by whom at this moment they are represented, 
for, like Saul, on the road to Damascus, your 
constant anxiety seems to be, Lord, what will 
thou have me to do ?" 

One example of what a writer styles General 
Butler's legerdemain. A man in Boston, of re- 
spectable connections and some wealth, being 
afflicted with a mania for stealing, was, at length, 
brought to trial on four indictments ; and a host 
of lawyers were assembled, engaged in the case, . 



10 



GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE Till': WAR. 



expecting a long and sharp contest. It was hot Many of General Butler's triumphs, however, 
suinuicr weather ; the judge was old and iiulo- were won after lung and perftetly contested 
lent; the oBSccrs of the court were weary of the struggles, which fully and legitimately tested his 
session and anxious to adjourn. General Butler sti'cngth as a lawyer. Perhaps, as a set-off to 
■was counsel for the prisoner. It is a law in the case just related, I should give one of the 
Massachusetts, that the repetition of a crin>e other description. 

by the same offender, within a certain period, I A son of one of the general's most valued 
shall entail a severer punishment than the first friends made a voyage to China as a sailor before 
offense. A third repetition, involves more so- , the mast, and returned with his constitution 
veritj', and a fourth still more. According to ruined through the scurvy, his captain having 
this law, the prisoner, if convicted on all four ' neglected to supply the ship with the well-known 
indictments, would be liable to imprisonment in ■ antidotes to that dii^ease, lime juice and fresh 
the penitentiary, for the term of sixty years. | vegetables. A suit for damages was instituted 
.As the court was assembling, General Butler re- i*on the part of the crew against the captain, 
monstrated with the counsel for the prosecution, ' General Butler was retained to conduct the 
upon the rigor of their proposed proceedings. ' cause of the sailors, and Mr. Rufus Clionte-de- 
Surely, one indictment would answer the ends ' fended the captain. The trial lasted nineteen 
of justice ; why condemn the man to imprison- j working days. General Butler's loading posi- 



ment for life for what was, evidently, more a 
disease than a crime ? They agreed, at length, 
to quash three of the indictments, on condition 
that the prisoner should plead guilty to the one 
which charged the theft of the greatest amount. 
The prisoner was arraigned. 

"Are you guilty, or not guilty ?" 

"Say guilty, sir," said General Butler, from 
his place in the bar, in his most commanding 
tone. 

The man cast a helpless, bewildered look at 
his counsel, and said nothing. 

" Say guilty, sir," repeated the General, look- 
ing into the prisoner's eyes. 

The man, without a will, was compelled to 
obey, by the very constitution of his infirm mind. 

" Guilty," he faltered, and sunk down into his 
seat, crushed with a sense of shame. 

" Now, gentleman," said the counsel for the 
prisoner, "have I, or have I not, performed my 
part of the compact ?" 

" You have." 

" Then perform yours." 

This was done. A Nbl. Pros, was duly en- 
tered upon the three indictments. The counsel 
for the prosecution immediately moved for 
sentence. 

General Butler then rose, with the ©ther 
indictment in his hand, and pointed out a fiaw 
iu it, manifest and fatal. The error consisted in 
designating' the place where the crime was 
committed. 

"Your honor perceives," said the general, 
" that this court has no jurisdiction in the mat- 
ter. I move that the prisoner be discharged 
from custody." 

Ton minutes from that time, the astounded 
man was walking out of the court-room free. 

The flaw in the indictment, General Butler 
discovered the moment after the compact was 
made. If he had gone to the prisoner, and .spent 



tions were: 1. That the captain was bound to 
procure fresh vegetables if ho could; and, 2. 
That he could. Iu establishing these two points, 
he disolay^ed an amount of learning, ingenuity 
and taftt, seldom equaled at the bar. The whole 
of sanitary science and the whole of sanitary 
law, the narratives of all navigators and the 
usages of all navies, reports of parliamentary 
commissions and the diaries of pliilautluopical 
ivestigators, ancient log-books and new treatises 
of maritime law ; the testimony of mariners 
and the opinions of physicians, all were made 
tributary to his cause. He exhibited to the jury 
a large map of the world, and, taking the log of 
the ship in his hand, he read its daily entries, 
and as he did so, marked on the map the ship's 
course, showing plainly to the eye of the jury, 
that on four different occasions, while the crew 
were rotting with the scurvy, the ship passed 
within a few hours' sail of islands, renowned in all 
those seas for the abundance, the excellence, and 
the cheapness of their vegetables. Mr. Choato 
contested every point, with all his skill and elo- 
quence. The end of the daily session was only 
the beginning of General Butler's day's work; 
for there were new points to bo investigated, 
other fjicts to be discovered, more witnesses to 
be hunted up. He rummaged libraries, he pored 
over encyclopedi;i5 and gazetteers, he ferreted 
out old sailors, and went into court every morn- 
ing with a mass of new material, and followed 
by a train of old doctors or old salts to support 
a position shaken the day before. In the course 
of the trial ho had on the witness-stand nearly 
every eminent physician in Boston, and nearly 
every sea-captain and ship-owner; Justice and 
General Butler triumphed. The jury gave dam- 
ages to the amount of three thousand dollars ; 
an award which to-day protects American sailors 
on every sea. 

Such energy and talent as this, could not fail 



five minutes in inducing him to consent to the [ of liberal reward. After ten years of practice 
arrangement, the sharp opposing counsel, long 1 at Lowell, with frequent employment in Boston 
accu-stomed to his tactics, would have suspected courts. General Butler opened an office in Boston, 
a ruse, and eagerly scanned the indictment. He and thenceforward, in coujimetion with a part- 
relied, therefore, solely on the power which a ' ner in each city, carried on two distinct estab- 
man, with a will, has over a man who has none, lishments. For many years he was punctual at 
and so merely commanded the plea of guilty. ! the depot in Lowell at seven in the morning, 
Tlie court, it is said, not unwilling to escape a summer and winter; at Boston soon after eight; 
long trial, laughed at the manajuver, and com- in court at Boston from half-past nine till near 
plimentod the successful lawyer upon the ex- five in the afternoon ; back to Lowell, and to 
celleiit "discipline" which he maintained among dinner at half past si.x:; at his othce in Lowell 
his clients. from half past seven till midnight, or later. 

This was a case of legal " legerdemain." i When the war broke out, be bad the most 



GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



11 



lucrative practice in New England — worth at a 
moderate estimate, eighteen thousand dollars a 
year. At the moment of his leaving for the scene 
of war, the list of cases in which he was re- 
tained numbered five hundred. Hajjpily mar- 
ried at an early age to a lady, in whom are 
united the accomplishments which please, and 
the qualities that inspire esteem, blessed with 
three aflectionate children, he enjoyed at his 
beautiful home, on the lofty banks of the tum- 
bling Merrimac, a most enviable domestic felicity. 
At the age of forty, though he had lived liber- 
ally, he was in a condition to retire from business 
if he had so chosen. 

A writer well remarks that a lawyer in great 
practice as an advocate has peculiar oppor- 
tunities of acquiring peculiar knowledge. That 
famous scurvy case, for example, made him 
acquainted with the entire range of sanitary 
science. A great bank case opens all the mys- 
teries of finance ; a bridge case the whole art of 
bridge building; a railroad case the law and 
usages of all railroads. A few years ago when 
General Butler served as one of the examiners 
at West Point, he put a world of questions to 
the graduating class upon subjects connected 
■with the military art, indicating unexpected 
Bpecialties of knowledge in the questioner. 
"But how did you know anything about that?" 
his companions would ask. "Oh, I once had a 
case which obliged me to look into it." This 
answer was made so often that it became the 
jocular custom of the committee, when any 
knotty point arose in conversation, to ask G-en- 
eral Butler whether ho had not a case involving 
it. The knowingness and direct manner of this 
Massachusetts lawyer left such an impression 
upon the mind of one of the class, (the lamented 
General George G. Strong,) that he sought ser- 
vice under him in the war five years after. 
This curious specialty of information, particu- 
larly his intimate knowledge of ships, banks, 
railroads, sanitary science, and engineering, was 
of the utmost value to him and to the country 
at a later day. 

And now a few words upon the political 
career of General Butler in Massachusetts. 
Despite his enormous and incessant labors at 
the bar, he was a busy and eager politician. 
From his twentieth year he was wont to stump 
the neighboring towns at election time, and from 
the year 184:4, never failed to attend the national 
conventions of his party. Upon all the ques- 
tions, both of state and national politics, which 
have agitated Massachusetts during the last 
twenty years, his record is clear and ineffaceable. 
Right or wrong, there is not the slightest diffi- 
culty in knowing where he has stood or stands. 
He has, in perfection, what the French call 
"the courage of opinion;" which a man could 
not fail to have who has passed his whole life 
in a minority, generally a hopeless minority, but 
a minority always active, incisive, and inspired 
with the audacity which comes of having nothing 
to lose. I need not remind any American reader 
that during the last twenty-five j-ears the demo- 
cratic party in Massachusetts has seldom had 
even a plausible hope of carrying an election. 
If ever it has enjoyed a partial triumph, it has 
been through the operation of causes which 
disturbed the main issue, and enabled the party 
to combine with factions temporarily severed 



S^ra a majority otherwise invincible. The 
politics of an American citizen, for many 
years past, have been cUvided into two parts: 
1. His position on the questions affected by 
slavery. 2. His position on questions not 
affected by slavery. Let us first glance at Gen- 
eral Butler's course on the class of subjects last 
named. 

As a state politician, then, the record of which 
lies before me in a heap of pamphlets, reports, 
speeches, and proceedings of deliberative bodies, 
I find his course to have been soundly democrat- 
ic, a champion of fair play and equal rights. In 
that great struggle which resulted in the passage 
of the eleven-hour law, ho was a candidate for 
the legislature, on the "ten-hour ticket," and 
fought the battle with all the vigor and t-act 
which belonged to him. A few days before the 
election, as he was seated in his office at Lowell, 
a deputation of workingmen came to him, excit- 
ed and alarmed, with the news, that a notice had 
been posted in the mills, to the effect, that any 
man who voted the Butler ten-hour ticket, would 
be discharged. 

" Get out a hand-bill," said the general. " an 
nouneing that I will address the workingmen to 
morrow evening." 

The hall was so crammed with people that 
the speaker had to be passed in over the heads 
of the multitude. He began his speech with 
umwonted calmness, amid such breathless si- 
lence as falls upon an assembly when the ques- 
tion in debate concerns their dearest interests — 
their honor, and their livehhood. He began by 
saying that he was no revolutionist. How could 
he be in Lowell, where were invested the earn- 
ings of his laborious life, and where the value ot 
all property depended upon the peaceful labors 
of the men before him ? Nor would he believe 
that the notice posted in the mills was authorized. 
.Some underling had doubtless done it to propi- 
tiate distant masters, misjudging them, misjudg- 
ing the working-men of Lowell. The owners of 
the mills were men too wise, too just, or, at 
least too prudent, to authorize a measure which 
absolutely extinguished government ; which, at 
once, invited, justified, and necessitated anarchy. 
For tyranny less monstrous than this, men of 
Massachusetts had cast off their allegiance to the 
king of Great Britain, and plunged into the 
bloody chaos of revolution ; and the directors of 
the Lowell mills must know that the sons stood 
ready, at any moment, to do as iheir sires had 
done before them. But this he would say : If 
it should prove that the notice was authorized ; 
if men should be deprived of the means of earn- 
ing their bread for having voted as their con- 
sciences directed, then, woe to Lowell ! " The 
place that knows it shall know it no more for 
ever. To my own house, I, with this hand, will 
first apply the torch. I ask but this: give me 
time to get out my wife and children. All I 
have in the world I consecrate to the flames!" 

Those who have heard General Butler speak 
can form an idea of the tremendous force witli 
which he would utter words like these. He is a 
man capable of infinite wrath, and, on this oc- 
casion he was stirred to the depths of his being. 
The audience were so powerfully moved, that a 
cry arose for the burning of the town that very 
night, and there was: even the beginning of a 
movement towards the doors. But the speaker 



12 



GENERAL BUTLER BEFORE THE WAR. 



instantly relapsed into the tone and line of re- 
mark with which he had begun the speech, and 
concluded with a solemn appeal to every voter 
present to vote as his judgment and conscience 
directed, with a total disregard to i:)crsonal con- 
sequences. 

The next morning the notice was no more 
seen. The election passed peacefully away, and 
the ten-hour ticket was elected. Two priceless 
hours were thus rescued from the day of toil, 
and added to those which rest and civilize. 

The possibility of high civilization to the whole 
commuuitj — the mere possibility — depends upon 
these two things: an evening of leisure, and a 
Sunday without exhaustion. These two, well 
improved during a whole lifetime, will put any 
one of fair capacity in possession of the best 
best results of civOization, social, moral, intel- 
lectual, esthetic. And this is the meaning and 
aim of democracy — to secure to all honest people 
a fair chance to acquire a share of those things, 
which give to life its value, its dignity, and its 
joy. Justly, therefore, may we class measures 
which tend to give the laborer a free evening, as 
democratic. 

In the legislature, to which General Butler 
was twice elected, once to the assembly, and 
once to the senate, he led the opposition to the 
old banking system, and advocated that which 
gives perfect security to the New York bill- 
holder, and which is often styled the New York 
system, recently adopted as a national measure. 
He had the courage, too, to report a bill for 
compensating the proprietors of the Ursuline 
convent of Charlestown, destroyed, twenty 
years ago, by a mob, and standing now a black' 
ened ruin, reproaching the commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. It is said, that he would have 
succeeded in getting his bill passed, had not an 
intervening Sunday given the Calvinistic clergy 
an opportunity to bring their artillery to bear 
upon it. He represented Lowell in the conven- 
tion to revise the constitution of Massachusetts, 
a few years ago, and took a leading part in its 
proceedings. With these exceptions, though he 
has run for office a hundred times, he has fig- 
ured only in the forlorn hope of the minority, 
climbing toward the breach in every contest, 
with as much zeal as though he expected to 
reach the citadel. 

"But why so long in the minority? why 
could he and Massachusetts never get into ac- 
cord ?" This leads us to consider his position 
in national politics. 

Gentlemen of General Butler's way of think- 
ing upon the one national question of the last 
twenty years have been styled "pro-slavery 
democrats." This expression, as applied to 
General Butler, is calumnious. I can find no 
utterance of his which justifies it; but on the 
contrary, in his speeches, there is an evidently 
purposed avoidance of expressions that could be 
construed into an approbation of slavery. The 
nearest approach to anything like an apology for 
the " institution" which appears in his speeches, 
is the expression of an opinion, that sudden ab- 
olition would be ruin to the master, and a 
doubtful good to the slave. On the other hand, 
there is no word in condcnnation of slavery. 
There is oven an assumptioa tliat with the moral 
and philanthropic aspect'- of slavery, we of the 
north had nothing to do. lie avowed the opin- 



ion, that we were bound to stand by tlie com- 
promises of the constitution, not in the letter 
merely, but in the spirit, and that the spirit of 
those compromises bound the government to 
give slavery a chance in the territories. 

A ruling motive with him was a keen sense 
of the sacredness of compacts. Add to this a 
strong, hereditary party spirit, and some willful 
pleasure in acting with a minority. In his 
speeches on the slavery question there is candor, 
force, and truth ; and their argument is unan- 
swerable, if it be granted that slavery can have 
any rights whatever not expressly granted by 
the letter of the constitution. There is nothing 
in them of base subserviency, nothing of insin- 
cerity, nothing uncertain, no vote-catching 
vagueness. 

When the wretched Brooks had committed 
the assault upon Charles Sumner in the senate 
chamber, there were men of Massachusetts who, 
surpassing the craven baseness of Brooks himself) 
gave him a supper, and stooped even to sit at 
the table and help him to eat it. General But- 
ler, blazing with divine wrath, publicly denoun- 
ced the act in Washington in such terms as 
became a man, and caUcd upon Mr. Sumner, to 
express his horror and his sympathy. He saw 
with his own eyes, and felt with his own liands, 
that the wounds could only have been given 
while the senator was bending low over his desk, 
absorbed and helpless. 

When John Brown, the sublime madman, or 
else the one sane man in a nation mad, had done 
the deed for which unborn pilgrims will come 
from afar, to look upon the sod that covers his 
bones. General Butler spoke at a meeting held 
in Lowell, to reassure the alarmed people of the 
South. This speech very fairly represents his 
habit of thought upon the vexed subject before 
the war. He spoke in strong reprobation of 
northern abolitionists, and southern fire-eaters, 
as men equally guilty of inflaming and mislead- 
ing their fellow citizens ; so that, at length it 
had come to pass, that neither section under- 
stood the other. "The mistake," said he, "is 
mutuah We look at the South through the 
medium of the abolitionist orators — a very dis- 
torted picture. The South see us only as ram- 
pant abolitionists, ready to make a foray upon 
their life and property." 

General Butler was elected a delegate to the 
democratic convention, held in Charleston, in 
April, 18G0. He went to Charleston with two 
strong convictions on his mind. One was, that 
concessions to the South had gone as far as the 
northern democracy could ever be induced to 
sustain. The other was that a fair nomination 
of Mr. Douglas, by a national democratic con- 
vention wa.s hnpos?ible. 

Nevertheless, in obedience to instructions, he 
voted for Mr. Douglas as long as there was any 
hope of procuring liis nomination. He then gave 
his vote for Jefi'erson Davis. On tlie final dis- 
ruption of the convention at Baltimore, he went 
with the body that nominated for the presidency 
John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky. 

Let us see how the four parties stood in the 
contest of that year. 

The Cincinnati platform of 185G said: Let the 
people in each territory decide, when they form 
a constitution, whether they will come into the 
Union as a slave state or as a free slate. 



MASSACHUSETTS EEADY. 



13 



But the delay in the admission of Kansas, gave 
intense interest to the question, whether slavery 
could exist in a territory before its admission. 

This was the issue in 1860. 

The republican platform said : No, it can not 
exist. Freedom is the normal condition of all 
territory. Slaver}^ can exist only by local law. 
There is no authority anywhere corapctent to le- 
galize slavery in a territory of the United States. 
The Supreme Court can not do it. Congress can 
not do it. The territorial legislature can not do 
it. 

The Douglas platform said ; We do not know 
whether slavery can exist in a territory or not. 
There is a difference of opinion among us upon 
the subject. The Supreme Court must decide, 
and its decision shall be final and binding. 

The Breckinridge platform said : Slavery law- 
fully exists in a territory the moment a slave- 
owner enters it with his slaves. The United 
States is bound to maintain his right to hold 
slaves in a territory. But when the people of the 
territoiy frame a state constitution, they are to 
decide whether to enter the Union as a slave or 
as a free state. If as a slave state, thej^ are to 
be admitted without question. If as a tree state, 
the slave-owners must retire or emancipate. 

The Bell atid Everett party, declining to con- 
struct a platform, expressed no opinion upon the 
question at issue. 

Thus, of the four parties in the field, twot)nly 
had the courage to look the state of things in the 
face, and to avow a positive conviction, namely, 
the republicans and the Breckinridge men. These 
two, alone, made platforms upon which an hon- 
est voter coidd intelligently stand. The other 
parties sliirked the issue, and meant to shirk it. 
The most pitiable spectacle ever afforded in the 
politics of the United States, was the wrigglings 
of Mr. Douglas during the campaign, wJien he 
taxed all his great ingenuity to seem to say 
something that should win votes in one section, 
without losing votes in the other. Tragical as 
the end was to him, all men felt that his disap- 
pointment was just, though they would have 
gladly seen him recover from tlie shock, take the 
bitter lesson to heart, and join with his old allies 
in saving the country. 

Before leaving Baltimore, the leaders of the 
Breckinridge party came to an explicit under- 
standing upon two important points. 

First, the northern men received from Mr. 
Breckinridge and his southern supporters, not 
merely the strongest possible declarations of de- 
votion to the Union and the Constitution, but a 
particular disavowal and repudiation of the cry 
then heard all over the South, that in case of the 
success of the republican party, the South would 
secede. There is no doubt in the minds of the 
well-informed, that Mr. Breckinridge was sincere 
in these professions, and it is known that he ad- 
hered to the Union, in his heart, down to the 
time when war became evidently inevitable. 
There is reason, too, to believe that he has since 
bitterlj' regretted having abandoned the cause of 
his countiy. 

Secondly, the Breckinridge leaders at Balti- 
more arranged their programme of future opera- 
tions. Tliey were aware of the certainty of their 
defeat. In all probability, the republicans would 
come into power. That party (as the Breckin- 
ridge democrats supposed) being unused to gov- 



ern, and inheriting immense and unexampled 
difficulties, would break down, would quarrel 
among themselves, would become ridiculous or 
offensive, and so prepare the way for the triumph- 
ant return of the democracy to power in 1865. 
Mr. Douglas, too, they thought, would destroy 
himself, as a political power, by having wanton- 
ly broken up his party. The democrats, then, 
would adhere to their young and popular candi- 
date, and elect him ; if not in 1864, then in 1868. 

Having concluded these arrangements, they 
separated, to meet in Washington after the elec- 
tion, and renew the compact, or else to change 
it to meet any unexpected issue of the campaigii. 

On his return to Lowell, General Butler found 
himself the most unpopular man in Massachu- 
setts. Not that Massachusetts approved the 
course or the character of Mr. Douglas. Not 
that Massachusetts was incapable of appreciating 
a bold and honest man, who stood in opposition 
to her cherished sentiments. It was because she 
saw one of her public men acting in conjunction 
with the party which seemed to her identified 
with that which threatened a disruption to the 
country if it should be fairly beaten in an election. 
The platform of that party was profoundly odious 
to her. It appeared to her, not merely erron- 
eous, but immoral and monstrous, and she could 
not but feel that the northern supporters of it 
were guilty of a kind of subserviency that bor- 
dered upon baseness. She did not understand 
the series of events which would have compelled 
Mr. Douglas, if he had been elected, to go to un- 
imagined lengths in quieting the apprehensions 
of the South. She could not, in that time of in- 
tense excitement, pause to consider, that if Gen- 
eral Butler's course was wrong, it was, at least, 
disinterested and unequivocal. 

He was hooted in the streets of Lowell, and a 
public meeting, at which he was to give an ac- 
count of his stewardship, was broken up by a 
mob. 

A second meeting was called. General Butler 
then obtained a hearing, and justified his course 
in a speech of extraordinary force and cogency. 
He characterized the Douglas ticket as " two- 
faced," designed to win both sections, by deceiv- 
ing both. " Hurrah for Johnson ! he goes for 
intervention. Hurrah for Douglas! he goes for 
non-intervention unless the Supreme Court tells 
him to go the other way. Hurrah for Johnson 1 
he goes against popular sovereignty. Hurrah for 
Douglas 1 he goes for popular sovereignty if the 
Supreme Court will let him I Hurrah for John- 
son I he is for disunion I Hurrah for Douglas I 
he is for tlie Union. 

He met the charge brought against Mr. Breck- 
inridge of sympathy with southern disunionists. 
" By whom is this charge made ? By Pierre Soule, 
an avowed disunionist, in Louisiana ; by John 
Forsyth and the ' Atlanta Confederacy, ' in 
Georgia, which maintains the duty of the South 
to leave the Union if Lincoln is elected ; and yet 
these same men are the foremost of the southern 
supporters of Douglas; by Gaulding of Georgia, 
who is now stumping the state tor Douglas, 
making the same speech that he made in tlie con- 
vention at Baltimore, where he argued that non- 
intervention meant that congress had no power to 
prevent the exportation of negroes from Africa, 
and that the slave trade was the true popular 
sovereignty in fall expansion. 



14 



MASSACHUSETTS READY. 



""Would you believe it, fellow-citizens, this 
speech was applauded in the Douglas convention, 
and that too, by a delegate from Massachusetts, 
ay, and from Middlesex county. 

" "When I left that convention, I declared that 
I would no longer sit where the African slave 
trade, made piracy and felony by the laws of my 
country, was openly advocated and applauded. 
Yet such, at the South, are the supporters of 
Douglas." 

General Butler was the Breckinridge candidate 
for the governorship of Massachuscts. He had 
been a candidate for the same oCBce a few years 
before, and had received the full support of his 
part}', about 50,000 votes. On this occasion 
only 0,000 of his fellow-citizens cast their votes 
for him ; the whole number of voters being more 
than 170,000. 



CHAPTER n. 

MASSACHUSETTS READY. 

In December, 1860, Mr. Lincoln having been 
elected, and congress met, General Butler went 
to Washington, according to the agreement at 
Baltimore, in June, to confer with democratic 
leaders upon the future course of the partj'. 
South Carolina had gone through the form of 
seceding from the Union, and her three com- 
missioners were at the capital, to present to the 
president the ordinance of secession, and nego- 
tiate the terms of separation. Regarding them- 
selves in the light of ambassadors, and expect- 
ing a long negotiation, they had taken a house, 
which served as the head-quarters of the mal- 
contents. Excitement and apprehension per- 
vaded all circles. General Butler, in visiting 
his southern friends, found that most of them 
considered secession a fact accomplished, noth- 
ing remaining but to arrange the details. Mr. 
Breckinridge, however, still steadfast to his 
pledges, indignant, sorrowful, was using his 
influence to bring about a convention of the 
border states, which should stand between the 
two hostile bodies, and compel both to make the 
concessions supposed to be necessary for the 
preservation of the Union. By day and night 
ho strove to stem the torrent of disaftection, 
and bring the men of the South to reason. Ho 
strove in vain. The movement which he en- 
deavored to efi'ect was defeated by Virginians, 
particularly by ^ Mason and Hunter. Finding 
his plan impossible, he went about "Washington, 
pale and haggard, the picture of despair, and 
sought relief, it is said, where despairing southern 
men are too apt to seek it, in the whisky 
bottle. 

" What does all this mean ?" asked General 
Butler, of an old southern democrat, a few hours 
after his arrival in Washington. 

'• It means simply what it appears to mean. 
The Union is dead. The experiment is finished. 
The attempt of two communities, having no 
interest in common, abhorring one another, to 
make believe that they are one nation, has 
ceased for ever. We shall establish a sound, 
homogeneous government, with no discordant 
elements. We shall have room for our northern 
friend.s. Come with us." 



you 
Do 



You 



" Have you counted the cost ? Do 
really think you can break up this Union ? 
you think so yourself?" 

" I do." 

" You are prepared, then, for civil war? 
mean to bring this thing to the issue of arms ?" 

" Oh, there will be no war. The North won't 
fight." 

"The North will fight." 

" The North won't fight." 

"The North ^/;^7^ fight." 

" The North canH fight. We have friends 
enough at the North to prevent it." 

" You have friends at the North as long as you 
remain true to the constitution. But let me tell 
3'ou, that the moment it is seen that you mean 
to break up the country, the North is a unit 
against you. I can answer, at least, for Massa- 
chusetts. She is good for ten thousand men to 
march, at once, against armed secession." 

" Massachusetts is not such a fool. If your 
state should send ten thousand men to preserve 
the Union against southern secession, she will 
have to fight twice ten thousand of her own 
citizens at home who will oppose the policy," 

" No, sir ; when we come from ilassachusetts 
we shall not leave a single traitor behind, unless 
he is hanging on a tree." 

" Well, we shall see." 

" You will see. I know something of the 
North, and a good deal about New England, 
where I was born and have lived forty-two 
years. We are pretty quiet there now because 
we don't believe that you mean to carry out 
your threats. We have heard the same story at 
every election these twenty years. Our people 
don't yet believe you are in earnest. But let 
me tell you this : As sure as you attempt to 
break up this Union, the North will resist the 
attempt to its last man and its last dollar. You 
are as certain to fail as that there is a God in 
Heaven. One thing you may do : you may ruin 
the southern states, and extinguish youi' insti- 
tution of slavery. From the moment the first 
gun is fired upon the American flag, your slaves 
will not be worth five years' purcliase. But as 
to breaking up the country, it can not be done. 
God and nature, and the blood of your fathers 
and mine have made it one ; and one country it 
must remain." 

And so the war of words went on. The gen- 
eral visited his old acquaintances, the South 
Carolina commissioners, and with them he had 
similar conversation's; the substance of all being 
this: 

Secessionists : " The North won't fight." 

General Butler: "The North will fight." 

Secessionists : " If the North fights, its labor- 
ers will starve and overturn the government." 

General Butler: "If the South fights, there 
is an end of slaveiy." 

Secessionists : " Do you mean to say that you 
yourself would fight in such a cause ?" 

General Butler : " I would ; and, by the grace 
of God, I will." 

The general sat at the table, once more, of 
Jeflerson Davis, for whom he had voted in the 
Charleston convention. Mr, Davis, at that time, 
appeared still to wish for a compromise and the 
preservation of the Union. But he is a politi- 
cian. He gave in to the sentiment, that he owed 
allegiance, first to the state of Mississippi ; sec- 



MASSACHUSETTS READY. 



15 



ondly, to the United States ; which is the same 
as sayiug that he owed no allegiance to the 

United St:.tes at all. So, if a majority of the 
legislature of Mississippi should pronounce for 
secession, ho was bound to abandon that which, 
for fifty years, he had been proud to call his 
" country." 
In times like those, every man of originating 

mind has his scheme. If in the multitude of 
counselors there were safety, no country had 
been safer than this country was in December, 
1860, when Mr. Buchanan was assailed and 
confounded with advice from all quarters, near 
and remote, from friends and foes. General 
Butler, too, had an idea. As a leading member 
pf the party in power, he was entitled to be 
listened to, and he was listened to. Mr. Black, 
the legal adviser of the government, had given 
it as his opinion, that the proceedings of South 
Carolina were legally definable as a " riot," 
which the force of the United States could not 
be lawfully used in suppressing. 

General Butler said to the attorney-general : — 
" You say that the government can not use its 
army and navy to coerce South Carolina in 
South Carolina. Very well. I do not agree 
with you ; but let the proposition be granted. 
Now, secession is either a right, or it is treason. 
If it is a right, the sooner we know it the bet- 
ter. If it is treason, then the presenting of the 
ordinance of secession is an overt act of treason. 
These men are coming to the White House to 
present the ordinance to the president. Admit 
them. Let them present the ordinance. Let 
the president say to them : — ' Gentlemen, yon 
go hence in the custody of a marshal of the 
United States, , as prisoners of state, charged 
with treason against your country.' Sumrnon a 
grand jury, here in Washington. Indict the 
commissioners. If any of your officers are back- 
ward in acting, you have the appointing power ; 
replace them with men who feel as men should, 
at a time like this. Try the commissioners ' 
before the Supreme Court, with all the imposing 
forms and stately ceremonial which marked the 
trial of Aaron Burr. I have some reputation at 
home as a criminal la^vyer, and will stay here 
and help the district attorney through the trial 
without fee or reward. If they are convicted, ' 
execute the sentence. If they are acquitted, you 
will have done something toward leaving a clear 
path for the incoming administration. Time 
will have been gained ; but the great advantage 
will be, that both sides will pause to watch 
this high and dignified proceeding; the passions 
of men wir cool ; the great points at issue will 
become clear to all parties; the mind of the 
country will be active while passion and preju- 
dice are allayed. Meanwhile, if you can not 
use your army and navy in Charleston^ harbor, 
you can certainly employ them in keeping order 
here." 

This was General Butler's contribution to the 
grand sum total of advice with which the admin- 
istration was favored. Mr. Black seemed in- 
clined to recommend the measure. Mr Buchanan 
was of opinion, that it would cause a fearful agi- 
tation, and probably inflame the South to the 
point of beginning hostilities forthwith. Besides, 
these men claimed to be ambassadors ; and though 
we could not admit the claim, still they had vol- 
untarily placed themselves in our power, and 



seemed to have a kind of right to bo, at least, 
warned away, before we could honorably trust 
them as criminals or enemies. In vain General 
Butler urged that his object was simply to get 
their position defined by a competent tribunal; 
to ascertain whether they were, in reality, am- 
bassadors or traitors. Ilia scheme was that of a 
bold and stedfast patriot prepared to go all 
lengths for his country. It could not but be 
rejected by Mr. Buchanan. 

General Butler frankly told the commissioners 
the advice he had given. 

" Why, you would'nt hang us, would you ? " 
said Mr. Orr. 

"Oh, no," replied the General; "not unless 
you were found guilty." 

Then came the electric news of Major Ander- 
son's " change of base " from Fort Moultrie to 
Fort Sumter; one of those trivial events which 
generally occur at times like those to decide the 
question of peace or war. The future historian 
I will probably tell us, that there was never a 
moment after that event when a peaceful solu- 
tion of the controversy was possible. He will pro- 
bably show that it was the skillful use of that in- 
; cideut, at a critical moment, which enabled the 
secessionists of Georgia, frustrated till then, to 
commit that great state to the support of South 
Carolina; and Georgia is the empire state of the 
cotton South, whose defection involved that Oi 
all the cotton states, as if by a law of nature. 

The president of the United States had allow- 
ed himself to promise the South Carolina com- 
missioners that no military movement should oc- 
cur in Charleston harbor during the negotiation 
at Washington. They promptly demanded the 
return of Major Anderson to Fort Moultrie. 
Floyd supported their demand. Mr. Buchanan 
consented. Then the commissioners, finding the 
president so pliant, demanded the total with- 
drawal of the troops from South Carolina, and 
Floyd supported them in that modest demand 
also. While the president stood hesitating upon 
the brink of this new infamy, the enormous 
frauds in Floyd's department came to light, and 
his influence was at an end. The question of 
withdrawal being proposed to the cabinet, it was 
negatived, and the virtuous Floyd relieved his 
colleagues by resigning. Mr. Holt succeeded 
him; the government stiflfenod ; the commission- 
ers went home ; and General Butler, certain now 
that war was impending, prepared to depart. 

He had one last long interview with the south- 
ern leaders, at which the whole subject was gone 
over. For three hours he reasoned with them, 
demonstrating the foUy of their course, and warn- 
ing them of final and disastrous failure. The 
conversation was friendly, though warm and 
earnest on both sides. Again he was invited to 
join them, and was offered a share in their enter- 
prise, and a place in that "sound and homogene- 
ous government," which they meant to establish. 
He left them no room to doubt that he took sides 
with his country, and that all he had, and all he 
was, should be freely risked in that country's 
cause. Late at night they separated to know 
one another no more except as mortal foes. 

The next morning. General Butler went to 
Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, an old acqua?n- 
tance, though long a political opponent, and told 
him that the southern leaders meant war, and 
urged him to join iu advising the governor of 



16 



MASSACHUSETTS READY. 



their state to prepare the militia of Massachusetts 
for taking the tield. 

At tluit time, and for some time longer, the 
southern men were divided among themselves 
respecting the best mode of beginning hostilities. 
The bolder spirits were for seizing Washington, 
preventing tlie inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, and 
placing lireckinridgo, if ho would consent, or 
some otlicr popular man if he would not, in the 
presidential mansion, who should issue a proc- 
lamation to the whole country, and endeavor to 
rally to his support a sufficient number of uorth- 
ern democrats to distract and paralyze tlio loyal 
states. That more prudent counsels prevailed 
was not from any sense of the turpitude of such 
treason, but from a conviction that if anything 
could rouse the North to armed resistance, it 
would be the seizure of the capital. Nothing 
short of that, thought the secessionists, would 
induce a money-making, pusillanimous people to 
leave their shops and their counting-houses, to 
save their country from being broken to pieces 
and brought to nought. The dream of these 
traitors was to destroy their country witliout 
fighting ; and so the scheme of a coup d'eiat was 
discarded. But General Butler left Washington 
behoving that the bolder course was the one 
which would bo adopted, lie believed this the 
more readily, because it was the course which 
he would have advised, had he, too, been a trai- 
tor. One thing, however, he considered abso- 
lutely certain : there was going to be a war be- 
tween Loyalty and Treason ; between the Slave 
Power and the Power which had so long pro- 
tected and fostered it. 

He found the North anxious, but still incred- 
ulous. He went to Governor Andrew, and gave 
him a full relation of what he had heard and seen 
at Washington, and advised him to get the mi- 
litia of the state in readiness to move at a day's 
notice. He suggested that all tlie men should 
be quietly withdrawn from the militia force who 
were either unable or unwilling to leave the 
state for the defense of the capital, and their 
places supplied with men who could and would. 
The governor, though he could scarcely yet 
believe that war was impending, adopted the 
suggestion. About one-half tlie men resigned 
their places in the militia ; the vacancies were 
quickly filled ; and many of the companies dur- 
ing the winter months, drilled every evening 
in the week, except Sundays. General Butler 
further advised that two thousand overcoats be 
made, as the men were already provided with 
nearly every requsite for marching, except those 
indispensable garments, which could not be ex- 
temporized. To this suggestion there was stur- 
dy opposition, since it involved the expenditure 
of twenty thousand dollars, and that for an exi- 
gency which Massachusetts did not believe was 
likely to occur. One gentlemen, high in office, 
said that General Butler made the proposal in 
the interest of the moths of Boston, which alone 
would get any good of the overcoats. Others 
insinuated that he only wanted a good contract 
for the Middlesex Woolen Mills, in which he 
was a large shareholder. The worthy and pa- 
triotic governor, however, strongly recommended 
the measure, and the overcoats were begun. 
The last stitches in the last hundred of them 
were performed while the men stood drawn up 
on the common waiting to strap them to their 



knapsacks before gottmg into the cars for Wash- 
ington. 

Having thus assisted in preparing Massachu- 
setts to march. General Butler resumed his prac- 
tice at the bar, vibrating between Boston and 
Lowell as of old, not without much inward chaf- 
ing at the humiliating spectacle which the coun- 
try presented during those dreary, shameful 
months. One incident cheered the gloom. One 
word was uttered at Washington which spoke 
the heart of the country. One man in the cab- 
inet felt as patriots feel w^hen the flag of their 
country is threatened with dishonor. One order 
was given which did not disgrace the govern- 
ment from which it issued. "If any one at-. 

TEMPTS TO HAUL DOWN THE AMERICAN FLAG 

SHOOT HIM ON THE SPOT 1" " When I read ic," 
wrote General Butler to General Dix long after, 
"my heart bounded with joy. It was the first 
bold stroke in favor of the Union under the past 
administration." He had the pleasure of send- 
ing to General Dix, from New Orleans, the iden- 
tical flag which was the object of the order, and 
the confederate flag which was hoisted in its 
place ; as well as of recommending for promotion 
the sailor, David Ritchie, who contrived to snatch 
both flags from the cutter when traitors abandon- 
ed and burnt her as Captain Farragut's fleet drew 
near. 

The fifteenth of April arrived. Fort Sumter 
had fallen. The president's proclamation call- 
ing for troops was issued. In the morning came 
a telegram to Governor Andrew from Senator 
Wilson, asking that twenty companies of Massa- 
chusetts militia be instantly dispatched to defend 
the scat of government. A few hours after, the 
formal requisition arrived from the secretary of 
war calling for two full regiments. At quarter 
before five that afternoon, General Butler was in- 
in court at Boston trying a cause. To him came 
Colonel Edward F. Jones, of the Sixth regiment, 
bearing an order from Governor Andrew, direct- 
ing him to muster his command fortliwith in 
Boston common, in readiness to proceed to Wash- 
ington. This regiment was one of General But- 
ler's brigade, its head-quarters being Lowell, 
twenty-five miles distant, and the companies 
scattered over forty miles of country. The gen- 
eral endorsed the order, and at five Colonel Jones 
was on the Lowell traia There was a good 
deal of swift riding done that night in the region 
round about Lowell ; and at eleven o'clock on 
the day following, there was Colonel Jones 
with his regiment on Boston common. Not less 
prompt were the Third and Eighth regiments, for 
they began to arrive in Boston as early as nine, 
each company welcomed at the depot by applaud- 
ing thousands. The Sixth regimeut,it was deter- 
mined, .should go first, and the governor deemed 
it best to strengthen it with two additional com- 
panies. 

The general, too, was going. During the 
night following the 15th of April, he had been 
at°work with Colonel Jones getting the Sixth 
together. On the morning of the 16th, ho was 
in the cars, as usual, going to Boston, and with 
him rode Mr. James G. Carney, of Lowell, presi- 
dent of the Bank of Redemption, in Boston. 

"The governor will want money," said the 
general. "Can not the Bank of Redemption 
otfer a temporary loan of fifty thousand dollars 
to help off the troops ?" 



MASSACHUSETTS READY. 



17 



It can, and shall, was the reply, in substance, 
of the president ; and in the course of the 
morning, a note offering the loan was in the 
governor's hands. 

General Butler went not to court that morn- 
ing. As yet, no brigadier had been ordered 
into service, but there was one brigadier who 
was on fire to serve ; one who, from the first 
summons, had been resolved to go, and to stay 
to the end of the fight, whether he went as 
private or as lieutenant-general. Farewell the 
learned plea, and the big fees that swell the 
lawyer's bank account I Farewell the spirit- 
stirring speech, the solemn bench, and all the 
pomp and circumstance of glorious law ! Gen- 
eral Butler's occupation was about to be changed. 
He telegraphed to Mr. Wilson, asking him to 
remind Mr. Cameron, that a brigade required a 
brigadier ; and back from Washington came an 
order calling for a brigade of four full regiments, 
to be commanded by a brigadier-general. 

That point gained, the next was to induce 
Governor Andrew to select the particular brig- 
adier whom General Butler had in his mind 
when he dispatched the telegram to Mr. Wilson. 
There were two whose commissions were of 
older date than his own ,• General Adams and 
General Pierce; the former sick, the latter de- 
siring the appointment. General Pierce had the 
advantage of being a political ally of the gov- 
ernor. On the other hand. General Butler had 
suggested the measures which enabled the 
troops to take the^ field, had got the loan of 
fifty thousand dollars, had procured the order 
for a brigadier. He was, moreover, Benjamin 
F. Butler, a gentleman not unknown in Boston, 
though long veiled from the general view by a 
set of obstinately held unpopular political opin- 
ions. These considerations, aided, perhaps, by 
a little wire-pulling, prevailed; and in the 
morning of the 17th, at tea o'clock, he received 
the order to take command of the troops. 

All that day he worked as few men can work. 
There were a thousand things to do ; but there 
were a thousand willing hearts and hands to 
help. The Sixth regiment was off in the after- 
noon, addressed before it moved by Governor 
Andrew and General Butler. Two regiments 
were embarked on board a steamer for Fortress 
Monroe, then defended by two companies of 
regular artillery — a tempting prize for the rebels. 
Late at night, the General went home to bid 
farewell to his family, and prepare for his final 
departure. The next morning, back again to 
Boston, accompanied by his brother. Colonel 
Andrew Jackson Butler, who chanced to be on 
a visit to his ancient liome, after eleven years' 
residence in California; where, with Broderick 
and Hooker, he had already done battle against 
the slave power, the lamented Broderick having 
died in his arms. He served now as a volunteer 
aid to the General, and rendered good service on 
the eventful march. At Boston, General Butler 
stopped at his accustomed barber-shop. While 
he was under the artist's hands, a soldier of the 
departed Sixth regiment came in sorrowful, 
begging to be excused from duty ; saying that 
he had left his wife and three children crying. 

"I am not the man for you to come to, sir," 
said the General, "for I have just done the 
same," and straightway sent for a policeman to 
arrest him as a deserter. 



A hurried visit to the steamer bound foi 
Fortress Monroe. All was in readiness there. 
Then to the Eighth regiment, on the Common, 
which he was to conduct to Washington by 
way of Baltimore; no intimation of the nnpend- 
ing catastrophe to the Sixtli having yet been 
received. The Eighth marched to the cars, 
and rolled away fVom tlie depot, followed by 
the benedictions of assembled Boston ; saluted 
at every station on the way by excited multi- 
tudes. At Springfield, where tliere was a brief 
delay to procure from the armory the means of 
repairing muskets, the regiment was joined by a 
valuable company, under Captain Henry S. Brigga 
Thence, to New York. The Broadway march of 
the regiment ; their breakfast at the Metropolitan 
and Astor; their push tlirough the crowd to 
Jersey City; the tumultuous welcome ia New 
Jersey; the continuous roar of cheers across the 
stale; the arrival at Philadelphia in the after- 
noon of the memorable nineteenth of April, who 
can have forgotten? 

Fearful news met the general and the regi- 
ment at the depot. The Sixth regiment, in its 
march through Baltimore that afternoon, had 
been attacked by the mob, and there had been 
a conflict, in which men on both sides had fallen 1 
So much was fact ; but, as inevitably happens 
at such a time, the news came with appalling 
exaggerations, which could not be corrected ; 
for soon the telegraph ceased working, the last 
report being that the bridges at the ilaryland 
end of the railroad were burning, and that 
Washington, threatened with a hostile army, 
was isolated and defenseless. Never since the 
days when " General Benjamin Franklin" led a 
little army of Philadelphians against the Indians 
after Braddock's defeat, the Indians ravaging 
and scalping within sixty miles of the city, and 
expected soon to appear on the banks of the 
Schuylkill, had Philadelphia been so deeply 
moved with mingled anger and apprehension. 
The first blood shed in a war sends a thrill of 
rage and horror through all hearts, and this blood 
shed in Baltimore streets, was that of the coun- 
trymen, the neighbors, the relatives of these 
newly arrived troops. A thousand wild rumors 
filled the air, and nothing was too terrible to be 
believed. He was the great man of the group, 
who had the most incredible story to tell ; and 
each listener went his way to relate the tale 
with additions derived from his own frenzied 
imagination. 

General Butler's orders directed him to march 
to Washington by way of Baltimore. That 
having become impossible, the day being far 
spent, his men fatigued, and the New York 
Seventh coming, he marched his regiment to the 
vacant Girard House for a night's rest, where 
hospitable, generous Philadelphia gave them 
bountiful entertainment. The regiment slept 
the sleep that tired soldiers know. 

For General Butler there was neither sleep 
nor rest that night, nor for his fraternal aid-de- 
camp. There was telegraphing to the governor 
of Massachusetts ; there were consultations with 
Commodore Dupont, commandant of the Navy 
Yard; there were interviews with Mr. Felton, 
president of the Philadelphia and Baltimore 
railroad, a son of Massachusetts, full of patriotic 
zeal, and prompt with needful advice and help; 
there was poring over maps and gazetteers 



18 



MASSACHUSETTS EEADY. 



Meanwhile, Colonel A. J. Butler was out in the 
streets, buyinf^ pickaxes, shovels, tinware, pro- 
visions, and all that was necessary to enable the 
troops to take the field, to subsist on army 
rations, to repair bridges and railroads, and to 
throw up breastworks. All Maryland was sup- 
posed to bo in arras ; but the general was going 
through Maryland. 

Before tl»c evening was far advanced, ho had 
determined upon a plan of operations, and sum- 
m®ned his officers to make tliom acquainted 
witli it — not to shun responsibility by asking 
their opinion, nor to waste precious time in dis- 
cussion. They found upon his table thirteen 
revolvers. He explained his design, pointed 
out its probable and its possible dangers, and 
said that, as some might censure it as rash and 
reckless, lie was resolved to take the solo res- 
ponsibility himself. Taking up one of the 
revolvers, ho invited every officer who was 
willing to accompany him to signify it by ac- 
cepting a pistol. The pistols were all instantly 
appropriated. The officers departed, and the 
general then, in great haste, and amid ceaseless 
interruptious, sketched a memorandum of his 
plan, to bo sent to the governor of Massachusetts 
after his departure, that his friends might know, 
if he should be swallowed up in -the maelstrom 
of secession, what he had intended to do. Many 
sentences of this paper betray the circumstances 
in which they were written. 

" My proposition is to join with Colonel Lef- 
ferts of the Seventh regiment of New York. I 
propose to take the tifteen hundred troops to 
Annapolis, arriving there to-morrow about four 
o'clock, and occupy tho capital of Maryland, and 
thus call the state to account for the death of 
Massachusetts men, my friends and neighbors. 
If Colonel LefiTerts thinks it more in accordance 
with the tenor of his instructions to wait rather 
than go through Baltimore, I still propose to 
march with this regiment. I propose to occupy 
the town, and hold it open as a means of com- 
munication. I have then but to advance by a 
forced march of thirty miles to reach the capital, 
in accordance with the orders I at first received, 
but which subsequent events in my judgment 
vary in their execution, behoving from the tele- 
graphs that there will bo others in great num- 
bers to aid me. Being accompanied by officers 
of more experience, w^ho will be able to direct 
the aflair, I think it will be accomplished. Wo 
have no light batteries ; I have therefore tele- 
graphed to Governor Andrew to have the Boston 
Light Battery put on shipboard at once, to-night, 
to help mo in marching on Washington. In 
pursuance of this plan, I have detailed Captains 
Devereux and Briggs with their commands to 
hold tho boat at Havre de Grace. 

" Eleven, a. m. Colonel L^fferls has rcfmed 
k> march with me. I go alone at three o'clock, 
p. M., to execute this imperfectly written plan. 
If I succeed, success will justify me. If I tail, 
purity of intention will excuse want of judgment 
or rashness." 

Tho plan was a little changed in the morning, 
when the rumor prevailed that the ferry-boat at 
Havre de Grace had been seized and barricaded 
by a largo force of rebels. Tlio two companies 
were not sent forward. It was determined that 
the regiment should go in a body, seize tho boat 
and use it for transporting the troops to Annapolis. 



" I may have to sink or burn your boat," said 
tho general to Mr. Felton. 

" Do so," replied the president, and immedi- 
ately wrote an order authorizing its destruction, 
if necessary. 

It had been tho design of General Butler, as 
we have seen, to leave Philadelphia in the morn- 
ing train; but ho delayed his departure in tho 
hope that Colonel Loft'erts might be induced to 
share in the expedition. The Seventh had arri- 
ved at sunrise, and General Butler made known 
his plan to Colonel LeCferts, and invited his co- 
operation. That officer, suddenly intrusted with 
tho lives (but the honor also) of nearly a thousand 
of the flower of tiie young men of New York, 
was overburdened with a sense of responsibility, 
and felt it to be his duty to consult his officers. 
The consultation was long, and, I believe, not 
harmonious, and the result was, that the Seventh 
embarked in tho afternoon in a steamboat at 
Philadelphia, with the design of going to Wash- 
ington by the Potomac river, leaving to the men 
of Massachusetts the honor and tho danger of 
opening a path through Maryland. It is impos- 
sible for a New Yorker, looking at it in the light 
oi suhsequerit events, not to regret, and keenly 
regret, the refusal of officers of tho favorite New 
York regiment to join General Butler in his bold 
and wise movement. But they had not the light 
of subsequent events to aid them in their delib- 
erations, and the}', doubtless, thought that their 
first duty was to hasten to the protection of 
Washington, and avoid the risk of detention by 
the way. It happened on this occasion, as in so 
many others, that the bold course was also the 
prudent and successful one. The Seventh was 
obliged, after all, to take General Butler's road 
to Washington. 

At eleven in the morning of the twentieth of 
April, the Eighth Massachusetts regiment moved 
slowly away from the depot in Broad street toward 
Havre de Grace, where the Susquohannah river 
empties into the Chesapeake Bay — forty milea 
from Philadelphia, sixty-four from Annapolis. 
General Butler went through each car explain- 
ing the plan of attack, and giving the requsito 
orders. His design was to halt the train one 
mile from Havre de Grace, advance his two best 
drilled companies as skirmishers, follow quickly 
with the regiment, rush upon the barricades and 
carry them at the point of the baj-onet, pour 
headlong into the ferry-boat, drive out tho rebels, 
get up steam and start for Annapolis. 

Having assigned to each company its place in 
tho line, and given all due explanation to each 
captain, tho general took a seat and instantly fell 
asleep. 

And now, the bustle being over, upon all these 
worthy men fell that seriousness, that solemnity, 
which comes to those who value their lives, and 
whoso lives are valuable to others far away, but 
who are about, for the first ti:ne, to incur mortal 
peril tor a cause which they feel to be greater 
and dearer than life. Goelho tells us that valor 
can neither be learned nor forgotten. I do not 
believe it. Certainly, the first peril does, in some 
degree, appal tho tirmest heart, especially when 
that peril is quietly approached on the easy seat 
of a railway car during a two hours' ride. Scarcely 
a word was spoken. Many of tho men sat 
erect, grasping their nmskets firmly, and looking 
anxiously out of tho windows. 



ANNAPOLIS. 



19 



One man blenched, and ono only. The general 
was startled from his sleep by the cry of! '' Man 
overboard I" The train was stopped. A soldier 
was seen running across the fields as though 
pursued by a mad dog. Panic had seized him, 
and ho had jumped from a car, incurring ten 
times the danger from which he strove to escape. 
The general started a group of countrj' people in 
pursuit, offering them the lawful thirty dollars if 
they brought the deserter to Havre do Gmce in 
time. The train moved again : the incident 
broke the spell, and the cars were filled with 
laughter. The man was brought in. His ser- 
geant's stripe was torn from his arm, and he was 
glad to compound his punisliment by serving the 
regiment in the capacity of a menial. 

At tlie appointed place, the train was stopped, 
the regiment was formed, and marched toward 
the ferry-boat, skirmishers in advance. It mus- 
tered thirteen officers and seven hundred and 
eleven men. 



CHAPTER III. 



ANNAPOLIS. 



It was a false alarm. There was not an armed 
enemy at Havre do Grace. The ferry-boat 
Maryland lay at her moorings in the peaceful 
possession of her crew ; and nothing remained 
but to get up steam, put on board a supply of 
coal, water and provisions, embark the troops, 
and start for Annapolis. 

"Whether the captain and crew were loyal or 
treasonable — whetiier they were likely to steer 
the boat toA nnapolis or to Baltimore, or run her 
ashore on some traitorous coast, were questions 
much discussed among officers and men. The 
captain professed the most ardent loyalty, and 
General Butler was more inclined to trust him 
than some of his officers were. There were men 
on board, however, who knew the way to Anna- 
polis, and were abundantly capable of navigating 
any cralt on any sea. It was resolved, therefore, 
to permit the captain to command the steamer, 
but to keep a shart lookout ahead, and an unob- 
gerved scrutiny of the engine-room. Upon the 
first indication of treachery, captain and engi- 
neers should find themselves in an open boat upon 
the Chesapeake, or stowed away in the hold, 
their places supplied with seafaring Marblehead- 
ers. Never before, I presume, had such a vari- 
ously skilled body of men gone to war as the 
Massachusetts Eighth. It was not merely that 
all trades and professions had their representa- 
tives among them, but some of the companies 
had almost a majority of college-bred men. 
Major Winthrop did not so much exaggerate 
when he said, that if the word were given, 
"Poets to the front!" or " Painters present 
arms!" or "Sculptors charge bayonets!" a 
baker's dozen out of every company would re- 
spond. Navigating a steamboat was the sim- 
plest of all tasks to many of them. 

At six in the evening they were off, packed 
as close as negroes in the steerage of a slave 
Bhip. Darkness closed in upon them, and the 
men lay down to sleep, each with his musket in 
his hands. The general, in walking from one 
part of the boat to another, stumbled over and 



trod upon many a growling sleeper. He was too 
anxious upon the still unsettled point of the cap- 
tain's fidelity to sleep ; so ho went prowling about 
among the prostrate men, exclianging notes with 
those who had an eye upon the compass, and 
with those who were observing the movements 
of the engineers. There were moments when 
suspicion was strong in some minds ; but cap- 
tain and engineers did their duty, and at mid- 
night the boat was off the aneient'Cit}' of Anna- 
polis. 

They had, naturally enough, expected to come 
upon a town wrapped in midnight slumber. 
There was no telegraphic or other communication 
with the North ; how could Annapolis, then, 
know that they were coming? It certainly 
could not ; yet the wliole town was evidently 
awake and astir. Rockets shot up into the sky. 
Swiftly moving lights wore seen on shore, and 
all the houses in sight were lighted up. Tlie 
buildings of the Naval Academy were lighted. 
There was every appearance of a town in ex- 
treme commotion. It had been General Butler's 
intention to land quietly while the city slept, 
and astonish the dozing inhabitants in the morn- 
ing with a brilliantly executed reveille. Noting 
these signs of disturbance, he cast anchor and 
determined to delay his landing till daylight. 

Colonel Andrew Jackson Butler volunteered 
to go on shore alone, and endeavor to ascertain 
the cause of the commotion. He was almost 
the only man in the party who wore plain clothea 
The general consenting, a boat was brought 
round to the gangway, and Colonel Butler 
stepped into it. As he did so he handed his 
revolver to a friend, saying, that he had no 
intention of fighting a town full of people, and 
if he was taken prisoner, he preferred that his 
pistol should fight, during the war, on the Uiiion 
side. The brother in command assured him, 
that if any harm came to him in Annapolis, it 
would be extremely bad for Annapolis. The 
gallant colonel settled himself to his work, and 
glided away into the darkness. 

The sound of oars was again heard, and a 
boat was descried approaching the steamer. A 
voice from the boat said : 

" What steamer is that ?" 

The steamer was as silent as though it were 
filled with dead men. 

"What steamer is that?" repeated the voice. 

No answer. The boat seemed to be making 
off. 

" Come on board," thundered General Butler. 

No reply from the boat. 

" Come on board, or I'll fire into J'ou," said 
the general. 

The boat approached, and came alongside. It 
was rowed by four men, and in the stern sat an 
officer in the uniform of a lieutenant of the 
United States navy. The officer stepped on 
board, and was conducted by General Butler to 
his cabin, where, the door being closed, a curi- 
ous colloquy ensued. 

" Who are you ?" asked the lieutenant. 

" Who are you ?" said the general. 

He replied that he was Lieutenant Matthews, 
attached to the Naval Academy, and was sent 
by Captain Blake, commandant of the post, and 
chief of the Naval Academy, who directed him 
to say that they must not land. He had, also, 
an order from Governor Hicks to the same effect. 



20 



ANNAPOLIS. 



The Uuitod Slates qiiartermaster had requested 
him to add from Lioutonant-General Scott, that 
there wore no moans of trau?portation at Anna- 
polis. 

General Butler was still uncommunicative. 
Both gentlemen were in a distrustful state of 
mind. 

The truth was that Captain Blake had been, for 
forty-eight hours, in momentary expectation of an 
irruption of " Plug Uglics," from Baltimore, either 
by sea or land, lie was surrounded by a popula- 
tion stolidly hostile to the United States. The 
school-ship Constitution, which lay at the academy 
wharf was aground, and weakly manned. He 
had her guns shotted, and wag prepared to fight 
her to the last man ; but she was an alluring 
prize to traitors, and he was in dread of an 
overpowering force. " Large parties of seces- 
sionists," as the officers of the ship afterwards 
testified, " were round the ship every day, noting 
her assailable points. The militia of the county 
were drilled in sight of the ship during the day 
time ; during the night signals were exchanged 
along the banks and across the river, but the 
character of the preparation, and the danger to 
the town in case of an attack, as one of the 
batteries of the ship was pointed directly upon 
it, deterred them from carrying out their plans. 
During this time the Constitution had a crew of 
about twenty-five men, and seventy-six of the 
youngest class of midshipmen, on board. The 
ship drawing more water than there was on the 
bar, the secessionists thought she would be in 
their power, whenever they would be in suffi- 
cient force to take her." In these circumstances, 
Captain Blake, a native of Massachusetts, who 
had grown gray in his country's service, as loyal 
and stedfast a heart as over beat, was tortured 
with anxiety for the safety of the trust which 
his country had committed to him. Upon seeing 
the steamer, ho had concluded that here, at last, 
were the Baltimore rufQans, come to seize his 
ship, and lay waste the academy. Secessionists 
in the town were prepared to sympathize, if not 
to aid in the fell business. All Annapolis, for 
one reason or another, was in an agony oF desire 
to know who and what these portentous mid- 
night voyagers wore. Captain Blake, his ship 
all ready to open fire, bad sent the lieutenant to 
make certain that the new-comers were enemies, 
before beginning the congenial work of blowing 
them out of the water. 

General Butler and the lieutenant contin- 
ued for some time to question one another, 
without either of them arriving at a satisfactory 
conclusion as to the loyalty of the other. The 
general, at length, announced his name, and de- 
clared his intention of marching by way of 
Annapolis to the relief of Washington. The 
lieutenant informed him that the rails were torn 
up, the cars removed, and the people unanimous 
against the marching of any more troops over 
the soil of Maryland. The general intimated 
that the men of his command could dispense 
with rails, car.s, and the consent of the people. 
They wore bound to the city of Washington, and 
expected to make their port. Meanwhile, he 
would send an officer witli him on shore, to 
confer with the governor of the state, and the 
authorities of the city. 

Captain P. Haggerty, aid-do-camp, was dis- 
patched upon thia errand. He was conveyed to 



the town, where ho was soon conducted to the 
presence of the governor and the mayor, to 
whom he gave the requisite explanations, and 
declared General Butler's intention to land. 
Those dignitaries finding it neces.sary to confer 
together. Captain Haggerty was shown into an 
adjoining room, where he was discovered an 
hour or two later, fast asleep on a lounge. Lieu- 
tenant Matthews was charged by the governor 
with two short notes to General Butler, one 
from himself, and another from the aforesaid 
quartermaster. The document signed by the 
governor, read as follows: 

" I would most earnestly advise, that you do 
not land your men at Annapolis. The excite- 
ment hero is very great, and I think it prudent 
that you should take your men elsewhere. I 
have telegraphed to the secretary of war against 
your landing your men here." 

This was addressed to the " Commander of 
the Volunteer troops on Board the Steamer." 
The quartermaster, Captain Morris J. Miller, 
wrote thus : 

" Having been intrusted by General Scott 
with the arrangements for transporting your 
regiments hence to Washington, and it being 
impracticable to procure cars, I recommend, that 
the troops remain on board the steamer until 
further orders can be received from General 
Scott." 

This appears to have been a mere freak of the 
captain's imagination, since no troops were ex- 
pected at Annapolis by General Scott. 

Captain Haggerty returned on board "the 
steamer," and the notes were delivered to the 
general commanding. 

What had befallen Colonel Butler, meanwhile? 
Upon leaving the steamer, he rowed towards the 
most prominent object in view, and soon found 
himself alongside of what proved to be a wharf 
of the Naval Academy. He had no sooner 
fastened his boat and stepped ashore, than he 
was seized by a sentinel, who asked him what 
he wanted. 

" I want to see the commander of the post." 

To Captain Blake he was, accordingly, taken. 
Colonel Butler is a tall, fully developed, impo.sing 
man, devoid of the slightest resemblance to the 
ideal " Plug Ugly." Captain Blake, venerable 
with years and faithful service on many seas, in 
many lands, was not a person likely to bo mis- 
taken for a rebel. Yet these two gentlemen 
eyed ' one another with intense distrust. The 
navy had not then been sifted of all its traitors; 
and upon the mind of Captain Blake, the appre- 
hension of violent men from Baltimore had been 
working for painful days and nights. He re- 
ceived the stranger with reticent civility, and 
invited him to bo seated. Probing questions 
were asked by both, eliciting vague replies, or 
none. These two men were Yankees, and each 
was resolved that the other should declare him- 
self first. After long fencing and " beating 
about the bush," Colonel Butler expressed him- 
self thus: 

" Captain Blake, we may as well end this now 
as at any other time. They are Yankee troops 
on board that boat, and if I don't get back 
pretty soon, tiiey will open fire upon you." 

The worthy Captain drew a long breath of 
relief Full explanations on both sides followed, 
and Captain Blake said he would visit General 



ANNAPOLIS. 



21 



Butler at daybreak. Colonel Butler returned on 
board the Maryland. 

The general was soon ready with his reply to 
the note of Governor Hicks. 

To the governor: "I had the honor to re- 
ceive your note by the hands of Lieutenant 
Matthews, of the United States Naval School at 
Annapolis. I am sorry that your excellency 
should advise against my landing here. I am 
not provisioned for a long voyage. Finding the 
ordinary means of communication cut ofl' by the 
burning of railroad bridges by a mob, I have 
been obliged to make this detour, and hope that 
your excellency will see, from the very neces- 
sity of ihe case, that there is no cause of excite- 
ment in the mind of any good citizen because 
of our being driven here by an extraordinary 
casualty. 1 should, at once, obey, however, an 
order from the secretary of war." 

Captain Blake came off to the steamer at 
dawn of day, and soon found himself at home 
among his countrjaaien. 

" Can you help me off with the Constitution? 
Will your orders permit you ?" 

" I have got no orders," replied the general. 
"I am making war on my own hook. But we 
can't be wrong in saving the Constitution. That 
is, certainly, what we came to do." 

How the regiment now went to work with a 
will to save the Constitution ; how the Maryland 
moved up along side, and put on board the 
Salem Zouaves for a guard, and a hundred Mar- 
bleheaders for sailors; how they tugged, and 
tramped, and lightened, and heaved, and tugged, 
and tugged again ; how groups of sulky secesh 
stood scowling around, muttering execrations : 
how the old frigate was started from her bed of 
mud at length, amid such cheers as Annapolis 
bad never heard before, and has not heard since. 
Captain Blake bursting into tears of joy after 
the long strain upon his nerves; tliese things 
have been told, and have not been forgotten. 

But the ship was not yet safe, though she was 
moving slowly toward safety. General Butler 
had now been positively assured that the cap- 
tain of his ferry boat was a traitor at heart, and 
would like nothing better than to run both 
steamer and frigate on a mud bank. He doubted 
the statement, which indeed was false. The 
man was half paralyzed with terror, and was 
thinking of nothing but how to get safely out of 
the hands of these terrible men. Nevertheless, 
the general deemed it best to make a remark or 
two by way of fortifying his virtuous resolutions, 
and neutralizing any hints he may have received 
from people on the shore. The engine-room he 
knew was conducted in the interest of the 
United States, for he had given it in charge to 
four of his own soldiers. He had no man in 
his command who happened to be personally 
acquainted with the shallows of the river Sev- 
ern. 

" Captain," said he, " have you faith in my 
word?" 

"Yes," said the captain. 

"I am told that you mean to run us aground. 
I think not. If you do, as God lives and you 
live, I'll blow your brains out." 

The poor captain, upon hearing these words, 
evinced symptoms of terror so remarkable, as to 
convince General Butler that if any mishap 
befell the vessels, it would not be owing to any 



disaffection on the part of the gentleman in the 
pilot-house. 

All seemed to be going well. The general 
dozed in his chair. He woke to find the Mary- 
land fast in the mud. Believing the captain's 
protestations, and the navigation being really 
difficult, ho did not molest his brains, which 
were already sufficiently discomposed, but or- 
dered him into confinement. The frigate was 
still afloat, and was, soon after, towed to a safe 
distance by a tug. The Eighth Massachusetts 
could boast that it had rendered an important 
service. But there the regiment was upon a 
bank of mud ; provisions nearly consumed ; 
water casks dry ; and the sun doing its duty. 
There was nothing to be done but wait for the 
rising of the tide, and, in the mean time, to re- 
plenish the water casks from the shore. The 
men were tired and hungry, black with coal 
dust, and tormented with thirst, but still cheerful, 
and even merry ; and in the twilight of the Sun- 
day evening, the strains of religious hymns rose 
from groups who, on the Sunday before sang 
them in the choirs of village churches at home. 
The officers, as they champed their biscuit, and 
cut their pork with pocket knives, laughingly 
alluded to the superb breakfast given them on 
the morning of their departure from Philadelphia 
by Paran Stephens at the Continental. Mr. 
Stephens, a son of Massachusetts, had employed 
all the resources of his house in giving his 
countrymen a parting meah The sudden plunge 
from luxury brought to the perfection of one of 
the fine arts, to army rations, scant in quantity, 
ih-cooked, and a short allowance of warm water, 
was the constant theme of jocular comparison 
on board tlie Maryland. It was a well-worn 
joke to call for delicate and ludicrously impos- 
sible dishes, which were remembered as figuring 
in the Continental's bill of fare ; the demand 
being gravely answered by the allowance of a 
biscuit, an inch of salt pork, and a tin cup half 
full of water. 

General Butler improved the opportunity of 
going on shore. He met Governor Hicks and 
the mayor of Annapolis, who again urged him 
not to think of landing. All Maryland, they 
said, was on the point of rushing to arms; the 
railroad was impassable, and guarded by 
armed men ; terrible things could not fail to 
happen, if the troops attempted to reach Wash- 
ington. 

" 1 mtist land " s.aid the general; "my men 
are hungry. I could not even leave without 
getting a supply of provisions." 

They declared that no one in Annapolis would 
sell him anything. To which the general replied 
that he hoped better things of the people of 
Annapolis ; but, in any case, a regiment of hun- 
gry soldiers were not limited to the single meth- 
od of procuring supplies usually practiced in 
time of peace. There were modes of getting 
food other than the simple plan of purchase. 
Go to Washington he must and should, with or 
without the assistance of the people of Anna- 
polis. The governor still refused his consent, 
and, the next day, put his refusal into writing; 
"protesting against the movement, which, in the 
excited condition of the people of this state, I 
can not but consider an unwise step on the part 
of the government. But," he added, "I must 
earnestly urge upon you, that there shall be no 



22 



Ax^NAPOLIS. 



halt made by the troops in tliis citj." No bait? 
Seven hundred and twenty-four foniishing men, 
with a march of thirty miles before them, were 
expected to pass by a city abounding in provis- 
ions, and not halt! Great is Buncombe 1 

Another night was passed on board the Mary- 
land. Tlie dawn of Monday morning brought 
with it a strange apparition — a steamer approach- 
ing from tlie sea, crammed with troops, tlieir 
arms soon glittering in the rays of the rising sun. 
Who could tlioy be? They cheered the stars 
and stripes waving from the mast of tlie rescued 
Constitution ; so tliey were not enemies, at least. 

The steamer proved to bo the Boston, with 
the Now York Seventh on board, tliirty-six 
hours from Pliiladclphia. They had steamed to- 
ward the mouth of the Potomac, but, on speak- 
ing the liglit-sliips, wore repeatedly told that the 
secessionists had stationed batteries of artillery 
on the banks of the river, for the purpose of pre- 
venting the ascent of troops. There was no 
truth in the story, but it seemed probable enough 
at that mad time ; and, therefore, Colonel Leflerts, 
after the usual consultation, deemed it most pru- 
dent to change his course, and try General But- 
ler's road to the capital ; the regiment by no 
means relishing the change. Tlie two regiments 
exchanged vigorous volleys of cheers, and pre- 

f)arations were soon made for getting the Mary- 
and afloat. 

General Butler, counting now upon Colonel 
Leftert's hearty co-operation, issued to his own 
troops a cheering order of the day. 

The Maryland could not be floated. The men 
threw overboard coal and crates, and all heavy 
articles that could be spared. The Boston 
tugged her strongest. The Eighth ran in masses 
from side to side, and from end to end. After 
many hours of strenuous exertion, the men 
suftering extremely from thirst and hunger, the 
general himself not tasting a drop of liquid for 
twelve hours, the attempt was given up, and it 
was resolved that the Boston should land the 
Seventh at the grounds of the Naval Academy, 
and then convey to the same place the Massa- 
chusetts Eighth. 

Desirous not to seem wanting in courtesy to 
a sovereign state. General Butler now sent to 
Governor Hicks, a formal written request for 
permission to land. The answer being delayed 
and his men almost fainting for water, ho then 
dispatched a respectful note announcing his in- 
tention to land forthwith. It was to these notes 
that Governor Hicks sent the reply, already 
quoted, protesting against the landing, and 
urging that no halt be made at Annapolis. 

In the course of the afiornoon, both regiments 
were safely landed at the academy grounds, and 
and tlie Seventh hastened to share all they had 
of provender and drink with their new friends. 
The men of the two regiments fraternized imme- 
diaiely and completely ; nothing occurred, during 
the laborious days and nights that followed, to 
disturb, for an instant, the perfect harmony that 
reigned between them. The only contest was, 
which should do most to help, and cheer, and 
relieve the other. 

I regret to be obliged to state that this pleas- 
ant state of aflairs did not extend at all times, to 
the powers controlling the two regiments. An 
obstacle, little expected, now arose in General 
Butler's path. i 



From the moment when the Seventh had en- 
tered the grounds of the naval school, systematic 
attempts appear to have been made to alarm 
Colonel Leflerts for the safety of his command. 
Messengers came in with reports that the acad- 
emy was surrounded with rebel troops ; and 
even the loyal middies could testify, that during 
that very day, a force of Maryland militia had 
been drilling in the town itself True, this force 
consisted of only one company of infantry and 
one of cavalry; but probably the exact truth 
was not known to Colonel Leffert's informants. 
Certain it is, that he was made to believe that 
formidable bodies of armed men only waited the 
issue of the regiments from the gates of the wall- 
ed inclosure in which they were, to give them 
battle, if, indeed, the inclosure itself was safe 
from attack. Accordingly ho posted strong 
guards at the gates, and ordered that no soldier 
should bo allowed to pass out. Nor were his 
apprehensions allayed when a Tribune reporter, 
who, accompanied by two friends, had strolled 
all over the town unmolested, brought back word 
that no enemy was in sight, and that the store- 
keepers of Annapolis were perfectly civil and 
willing to sell their goods to Union soldiers. 
Colonel Lefferts was assured that the hostile 
troops were purposely keeping out of sight, t9 
fall upon the regiment where it could fight only 
at a fiatal disadvantage. 

Consequently, he determined not to march 
with General Butler. He placed his refusal in 
writing, in the following words : — 

" Annapolis Acadkmy, 
"Monday Night, April 22d, 1861. 
" General B. F. Butler, Commanding Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers. 

"Sir: — Upon consultation with my offjcora, I 
do not deem it proper, under the circumstances, 
to co-operate in the proposed march by railroad, 
laying track as we go along — particularly in 
view of a large force hourly expected, and with 
so little ammunition as wo possess. I must bo 
governed by- my ofBcers in a matter of so much 
importance. I have directed this to be handed 
to you upon your return from the transport ship. 
" I am, sir, yours respectfully, 

Marshall Lefferts." 

It was handed to the general on his return 
from the lran.sport ship. He sought an interview 
witli Colonel Leflerts, and endeavoured to change 
his resolve. Vain were arguments; vain re- 
monstrance ; vain the biting taunt. Colonel 
Leflerts still refused to go. General Butler then 
said he would go alone, he and his regiment, 
and proceeded forthwith to prepare for their 
departure. He instantly ordered two companies 
of the Massachusetts Eighth to march out of 
the walled grounds of tho academy, and seize 
the railroad depot and storehouse. With tho 
two companies, he marched himself to the depot, 
and took possession of it without opposition. 
At the storehouse, one man opposed ihem, the 
keeper in charge. 

" What is inside this building ?" asked tho 
general. 

"Nothing," replied the man. 

" Give me the key." 

"I hav'nt got it." 

"Where is it?" 

" I don't know." 

" Boys, can you force those gates?" 



AKNAPOLIS. 



23 



The bo3'S expressed an abundant willingness 
to try. 

" Try then." 

They tried. The gates yielded and flew open. 
A small, rust}', damaged locomotive was found 
to be the •' nothing," whicli the building held. 

" Docs any one here know anything about 
this machine ?" 

Charles Homans, a private of company E, 
eyed the engine for a moment, and said: 

" Our shop made that engine, general. I guess 
I can put her in order and run her." 
"Go to work, and do it." 
Charles Homans picked out a man or two to 
help, and began, at once, to obey the order. 

Leaving a strong guard at the depot, the gen- 
eral viewed the track, and ascertained that the 
rails hud, indeed, been torn up, and thrown 
aside, or carelessly hidden. Returning to the 
regiment, he ordered a muster of men accus- 
tomed to track-laying; who, with the dawn of 
the next day, should begin to repair the road. 

At sunset that evening, the Seventh regiment, 
to the delight of a concourse of midshipmen and 
other spectators, performed a brilliant evening 
parade, to the music of a full band. 

Two members of this regiment (many more 
than two, but two especially), preferred the work 
that General Butler was doing, and implored 
him to give them an humble share in it. One of 
them was Schuyler Hamilton, grandson of one 
of the men whose name he bore, and great- 
grandson of the other ; since distinguished in 
the war, and now General Hamilton. The other 
was Theodore Winthrop. General Butler found 
a place on his staff for Schuyler Hamilton, who 
rendered services of tlie utmost value; he was 
wise in counsel, valiant and prompt to execute. 
To Winthrop the general said : 

" Serve out your time in your own regiment. 
Then come to me, wherever I am, and I will 
find something for you to do." 

Happilj', a change came over the minds of the 
officers of the Seventh the next morning. As 
late as tiiree o'clock at night. Colonel Lefferts 
was still resolved to remain at Annapolis ; for, 
at that hour, he sent off a messenger, in an open 
boat, for New York, bearing dispatches asking 
for reinforcements and supplies. He informed 
the messenger that he had certain information 
of the presence of four rebel regiments at the 
Junction, where the grand attack was to bo 
made upon the passing troops. But when the 
day dawned, and the cheering sun rose, and it 
became clear that the Massachusetts men at the 
depot had not been massacred, and were cer- 
tainly going to attempt the march, then the 
officers of the Seventh came into General Butler's 
scheme, and agreed to join their brethren of 
Massachusetts. From that time forward, there 
was no hanging back. Both regiments worked 
vigorousl}' in concert — Winthrop foremost among 
the foremost, all ardor, energy and merriment. 
Campaigning was an old story to him, who had 
roamed the world over in quest of adventure; 
"and few men, of the thousands who were then 
rushing to the war, felt the greatness and the 
holiness of the cause as he felt it. Before 
leaving home, he had solemnly given his life to 
it, and, in so doing, tasted, for the first time, 
perhaps, a joy that satisfied him. 

It would be unfair to cei.aiire Colonel Lefferts 



for his excessive prudence. He really believed 
the stories told him of tlio resistance he was to 
meet on the way. Granting that those tales 
were true, his course was, perhaps, correct. The 
general had one great advantage over him in 
the nature of his professional training. General 
Butler is one of the most vigorous and skillful 
cross-questioners in New England, in other 
words, he had spent twenty years of his life in 
detecting the true from the plausible ; in dragging 
up half-drowned Truth, by her dripjaiug locks, 
from the bottom of her well. Such practice 
gives a man at last a kind of intuitive power of 
detecting falsehood ; he acquires a habit of 
balancing probabilities; he scents a lie from afar. 
Doubtless, he believed their march might be 
opposed at some favorable point ; but, probably, 
he had too a tolerable certainty that slow, indo- 
lent, divided Maryland, could not. or would not, 
on such short notice, assemble a force on the line 
of railway, capable of stopping a Massacimsetts 
regiment bound to Washington on a legitimate 
errand. He had had, at Havre de Grace, a 
striking instance of tho difference between truth 
and rumor, and his whole life had been full of 
such experiences. Colonel Lefl'erts, as a New 
York merchant, had passed his life among people 
who generally speak the truth, and keep their 
word. He was unprepared to believe that a 
dozen people could come to him, all telling sub- 
stantially the same story, many of them believing 
what they told, and yet all uttering falsehoods. 

Tuesday was a busy daj"- of preparation for 
the march. Rails were hunted up and laid. 
Parties were pushed out in many directions but 
found no armed enemies. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Hinks, with two companies of the Massachusetts 
Eighth, advanced along the railroad three miles 
and a half, without meeting the slightest appear- 
ance of opposition. Soldiers strolled about the 
town, and discovered that the grimmest seces- 
sionist was not unwilling to exchange such com- 
modities as he had for coin of the United States, 
Negroes gave furtive signs of good will, and 
produced baskets of cakes for sale. Madame 
Rumor was extremely diligent; there were 
bodies of cavalry here, and batteries of artillery 
there, and gangs of " Plug Uglies" coining from 
territJle Baltimore. The soldiers worked away, 
unmolested by anything more formidable than 
vague threats of coining vengeance. 

A startling rumor prevailed in the morning 
that the negroes in tlie vicinity of Annapolis 
were about to rise against their masters, and do 
something in the St. Domingo style — as per 
general expectation. The commanding general' 
thought it proper to address to Governor Hicks 
the letter which became rather famous in those 
days : 

" I have understood within the last hour that 
some apprehension is entertained of an insurrec- 
tion of the negro population of this neighbor- 
hood. I am anxious to convince all classes of 
persons that the forces under ray command are 
not here in any way to interfere, or countenance 
an interference, with tho laws of the state. I, 
therefore, am ready to co-operate with your ex- 
cellency in suppressing most promptly and effi- 
cieutl)' any insurrection against tho laws of tho 
state of Maryland. I beg, therefore, that yon 
announce publicly, that any portion of the forces 
under my command is at your excellency's dis- 



24 



ANNAPOLIS. 



posal, to act immcdiatoly for the preservation of 
the peace of this cominuuity." 

The governor gave ininiediato publicity to this 
letter, and it is said to have had a remarkable 
effect in quieting the apprehensions of the people. 
Many who had llud from their homes returned 
to them, and gave aid and comfort to the troop.s. 

Early the next morning, the troops were in 
motion. It was a bright, warm spring day, the 
sun gleaming along the lino of bayonets, tlie 
groves vocal with birds, the air fragrant with 
blo.ssoms. The engine driven by Charles Homans, 
— a soldier with lixod bayonet on each side of 
him, — came and went panting through the lino 
of marching troops. As the sun climbed toward 
the zenith, the morning breeze died away, and 
the air in the deeper cuttings became suflbcating- 
ly warm. The working parties, more used to 
Buch a temperature, plied the sledge and the crow- 
bar uuflaggiugly, but the daintier New Yorkers 
reeled under their heavy knapsacks, and were 
glad, at length, to leave them to the charge of 
Homans. With all their toil, the regiments 
could only advance at the rate of a mile an honr, 
for the further they went, the more complete was 
the destruction of the road. Bridges had to be 
repaired, as well as rails replaced. A sliower in 
the afternoon gave all parties a welcome drench- 
ing, and left the atmosphere cool and bracing; 
but when night closed in, and the moon rose, 
they were still many miles from the Junction. 

In the afternoon of the day following, the 
Seventh marched by the Wlute House, and 
saluted the President of the United States. Not 
an armed foe had been seen by them on the 
way. 

It had been General Butler's intention to ac- 
company the troops to Washington ; but before 
they had started the steamer Baltic arrived, 
loaded with troops from New York, giving abun- 
dant employment to the general and his extem- 
porized stalf. Before they had been disposed ot; 
other vessels arrived, and, on the day following, 
came an order from General Scott, directing 
General Butler to remain at Annapolis, hold the 
town and the road, and superintend the passage 
of the troops. Before the week ended, the " de- 
partment at Annapolis," embracing the country 
lying twenty miles on each side of the railroad, 
was created, and Brigadier-General Butler placed 
in command ; witii ample powers, extending 
oven to the su.spension of habeas corpus, and the 
bombardment of Annapolis, if such extreme 
measures should be necessary for the mainte- 
nance of the supremacy of the United States. 

During the next ten days, General Butler's 
unequaled talent for the dispatch of business, 
and his unequaled powers of endurance, were 
taxed to the uttermost Troops arrived, thou- 
sands in a day. The harbor was lilled with 
transports. Every traveler from North or South 
was personally examined, and his passport in- 
dorsed hj'- the general in command. Spies were 
arrested. The legislature of Maryland was closely 
watched, and no secret was made of General 
Butler's intention to arrest the entire majority if 
an ordinance of secession was passed. It was 
uot known to that body, I presume, that one of 
tlioir olBcers had consigned to General Butler's 
custody the Great Seal of the Commonwealtli, 
without which no act of theirs could acquire the 
validitv of law. Such was the fact, however. 



In tho total inexperience of commanding ofBcera, 
every detail of the disembarkation, of the en- 
campments, of the supply, and of the march, re- 
quired tho supervision of the general. From 
daylight until midnight he labored, keeping chaos 
at bay. One night as the clock was striking 
twelve, when the general, after herculean toils, 
had cleared his office of the last bewildered ap- 
plicant for advice or orders, and he was about to 
trudge wearily to bed, an anxious-looking corre- 
spondent of a newspaper came in. 

" General," said he, "where am I to sleep to- 
night ?" 

This was, really, too much. 

"Sir," said the tired commander of the Depart- 
ment of Annapolis, " I have done to-day about 
everything that a man ever did in this world. 
But I am not going to turn chambermaid, by 
Jove !" 

And, so saying, he escaped from the room. 

We need uot linger at Anna])olis. General 
Butler's services there were duly appreciated by 
the president, the lieutenant-general. Governor 
Andrew, and the country. One act alone o. 
his ehcited any sign of disapproval : it was his 
offer of tho troops to aid in suppressing any 
imaginary insurrection of the slaves. General 
Butler, however, ably justified his course in a 
letter to the Governor of Massachusetts. 

We all remember how universal the expec- 
tation was, at the beginning of the war, that 
the negroes would everywhere embrace the op- 
portunity to rise upon their masters, and com- 
mit frightful outrages. That expectation grow 
out of our general ignorance of the character 
and feelings of the southern negro; and none of 
us were so ignorant upon these points as hunker 
democrats. If they had some acquaintance with 
slaveholders, they knew notliing about slavery, 
because they would know nothing. It is a pro- 
pensity of tlio human mind, to put away from 
itself unwelcome truths. American democrats, 
I repeat, know nothing of American slavery. 
It was pleasant and convenient lor them to 
think, that 'Ar. Wendell Phillips, Mr. Garrison, 
Mrs. Stowe, and Mr. Sumner, were persons of a 
fanatical cast of character, whose calm and very 
moderate exhibitiLfus of slavery were totally 
beneath consideration — distorted, exaggerated, 
incredible. It was with the most sincere 
astonishment, that General Butler anil his 
hunker staff discovered, when tiiey stood face 
to face with slavery, and were obliged to ad- 
minister the law of it, and tried to do justice to 
the black man as well as to the white, that the 
worst delineations of slavery ever presented to 
the public fell far sliurt of tho tmimaginable 
truth.* They were ready to confess tiieir ig- 
norance of that of whicii they had been hearmg 
and reading all their lives, and that this ' patri- 
archal instdution,' for which some of them had 
pleaded or apologi/jed, was simply the most hell- 
ish thing that ever was in this world. 



*"On reading Mrs. Stowe's book, 'Uncle Tom's 
Cabin,' I tlioiiglit it to be an overdrawn, highly 
wrouf^ht picture of southei-u life ; but 1 have seen with 
iny own eyes, and heard willi my own ear.s, many 
things which go beyond her boolc, as much as her book 
doe's' beyond an ordinary Kchool-jjirl's uovaV'—Spe^rA 
of General lluUer <ti 'the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Neuj 
York, on his return from iV'ew Orleans, January B, 
1803. 



BALTIMORE. 



25 



Nevertheless, there has never been the sliglit- 
est danger of an insurrection of the slaves. The 
real victim of slavery is the white man, not the 
black. Whatever little good there is in the sys- 
tem,the black man has had; while most of the 
evil has fallen to the white man's share. Under 
slavery, the black man has deeply suflered and 
slowly improved ; the white man has ignobly 
enjoyed and rapidly degenerated. Three or 
four, or five generations of servitude have ex- 
tirpated whatever of warlike and rebellious en- 
ergy the negro may have once possessed ; and, 
of late years, the Christian religion, in a rude 
and tropical form — much feeling and little 
knowledge — has exerted a still more subduing 
influence <ipon them. Some more or less cor- 
rect version of the story of the Cross has become 
familiar to them all, as well as the sentiments of 
the Sermon on the Mount. To no people, of all 
the suffering sons of men, has that wondrous 
tale come home with such power as to these 
sad and docile children of Africa. Are not 
tliey, too, men of sorrow ? Are not they, too, 
acquainted with grief? Have not they, too, to 
suffer and be silent ? — revenge impossible, for- 
giveness divinely commanded ? 

Insurrection ? If a Springfield musket and a 
Sheffield bowie-knife were this day placed in 
every negro hut in the South, and every master 
gone to the war, the negroes might use those 
weapons, bat it would be to defend, not to mo- 
lest, their masters' wives and children. There 
is many a negro in the southern states who 
does actually stand in the same kind of moral 
relation to his master as that which Jesus Christ 
bore to the Jews, when he said, "Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do." And not 
moral relation only ; for the negro often has a 
clear mental perception of the fact stated. He 
sometimes stands above his master, at a bight 
which the master can neither see nor believe in. 



CHAPTER IV. 



BALTIMORE. 



Baltimore was the ruling topic in those days. 
Baltimore, still severed from all its railroad con- 
nections with the North, and still under control 
of the secession minority. One of the last re- 
porters that made his way through the city, two 
or three days after the attack of the mob upon 
the Sixth Massachusetts, gave a striking narra- 
tive of his adventures, which kept alive the im- 
pression that Baltimore had gone over, as one 
man, to the side of the rebels, and meant to 
resist to the death the passage of Union troops. 

"In the streets," he wrote, "of the lower part 
of the city, there were immense crowds, warm 
discussions, and the high pitch of excitement 
which discussion engenders. The mob — for 
Baltimore street was one vast mob — was surg- 
ing to and fro, uncertain in what way to move, 
and apparently without any special purpose. 
Many had small secession cards pinned on their 
coat collars, and not a few were armed with 
guns, pistols and knives, of which they made 
the most display. 

" I found the greatest crowd surging around 
the telegraph office, waiting anxiously, of course, 



for news. The most inquiry was as to the 
whereabouts of the New York troops — the most 
frequent topic, the probably results of an at- 
tempt on the part of the Seventli regiment to 
force a passage through Baltimore. All agreed 
that the force could never go through — all 
agreed that it would make the attempt if or- 
dered to do so, and none seemed to entertain a 
doubt that it would leave a winrow of the dead 
bodies of those who assailed it in the streets 
through which it might attempt to pass. 

" I found the police force entirely in sympa- 
thy with the secessionists and indisposed to 
act against the mob. Marshal Kane and the 
commissioners do not make any concealment of 
their proclivities for the Southern Confederacy. 
Mayor Brown, upon whom I called, seemed to 
be disposed to do his duty — provided he knew 
what it was, and could do it safely. He was in 
a high state of excitement when I mentioned 
my name and purpose. He manifested a dis- 
position to be civil, and to give me information 
but was evidently afraid that I was a Northern 
aggressor, with whom it was indiscreet for him 
to be in too close communication. Seeing his 
condition, I left him and went out in the crowd 
to gather public opiiiiou again." 

" All throu'^h the next day, the accessions 
from the country were coming in. Sometimes a 
squad of infantry, sometimes a troop of horse, 
and once a small park of artillery. It was 
nothing extraordinary to see a ' solitary horse- 
man' riding in from the counties, with shot-gun, 
powder-horn and flask. Some came with prov- 
ender lashed to the saddle, prepared to picket 
out for the night. Boys came with their fathers, 
accoutered apparently with the war sword and 
holster-pistols that had done service a century 
ago. There were strange contrasts between the 
•stern, solemn bearing of the father, and the 
buoyant, excited, enthusiastic expressions of the 
boy's face. I had frequent talks with these 
people, and could not but be impressed with 
their devotion and patriotism; for, mistaken as 
they were, they were none the less actuated by 
the most unselfish spirit of loyalty. They hardly 
knew, any of them, for what they had so sud- 
denly come to Baltimore. They had a vague 
idea only, that Maryland had been invaded, and 
that it was the solemn duty of her sons to pi'D- 
tect their soil from the encroachments of an in- 
vading force." 

Upon reading such letters as this, a great cry 
arose in the North for the re-opening of t!ie patli 
to "Washington through Baltimore, even if it 
should involve the destruction of the rebellious 
city. The proceedings of General Butler at 
Annapolis, and the departure from Baltimore of 
the leading spirits of the mob to join the rebel 
army in Virginia, quieted the oil}', and gave the 
Union men some chance to make their influence 
felt. But this change was not immediately un- 
derstood at Washington, and General Scott was 
meditating a great strategic scheme for the con- 
quest of the city. 

His plan, as officially communicated on tho 
29th of April, to Genei-al Butler, General Pat- 
terson, and others who were to co-operate, was 
as follows: " I suppose," wrote the lieutenant- 
general, " that a column from this place (Wash- 
ington) of three thousand men, another from 
York of three thousand men, a third from Perry- 



26 



BALTIMORE. 



villo, or Elkton, by land or water, or both, of 
three thousand men, and a fourtli from Anna- 
polis, by water, of three thousand men, might 
suffice. But it may be, and many persona think 
it probable, that Baltimore, bel'ore we can get 
ready, will rc-open the communication tlirough 
that cit}'', and beyond, each way, for troops, army 
supplies, and travelers, voluntarily. When can 
we be ready for the movement on Baltimore on 
this side? Colonel MansGeld lias satisfied me 
that we want, at least, ten tiiousand additional 
troops here to give security to the capital; and, 
as yet, we have less than ten thousand, including 
some verj- inditferent militia from the district. 
With that addition, we will be able, I think, to 
make the detachment for Baltimore." 

A day or two after the receipt of this letter, 
General Biitler went to Washington to confer 
with the gencral-in-chicf. He conversed with 
him fully upoa the state of affairs. One sug- 
gestion ottered on this occasion, by General But- 
ler, has peculiar interest in view of subsequent 
events. He was of opinion, with Shakspeare, 
that the place to fight the wolf is not at 5-our 
own front door, but nearer its own den. Man- 
assas Junction he suggested, not Arlington 
Heights, was the place where Washington should 
first be defended; and he ofTered to march 
thither with two thousand men, destroy the rail- 
road connections with the South, and fortify the 
position. As there were then no rebel troops at 
the Junction, this could have been done without 
loss or delay. General Scott negatived the pro- 
posal. The Committee oa the Conduct of the 
War have since characterized the omission to 
seize Manassas Junction at this time, as "the 
great error of that campaign." "The position 
at Manassas," add the Committee, "controlled 
the railroad coaim.unication in all that section of 
country. The forces which were opposed to us 
at the battle of Bull Run were mostly collected 
and brought to Manassas during the months of 
June and July. The three months' mea could 
have made the place easily defensible against 
any force the enemy could have brought against 
it; and it is not at all probable that the rebel 
forces would have advanced beyond the line of 
the Rappahannock had Manassas been occupied 
by our troops." 

General Butler strongly urged his scheme of 
seizing Manassas, both in conversation and in 
writing, to various influential persons. General 
Scott's veto was decisive. 

The reduction of Baltimore was, however, the 
chief topic of discussion between General Butler 
and the commander-in-chief. General Seott was 
still of opinion that some time must elapse be- 
fore troops could be spared for the attempt; but 
be consented to General Butler's taking a regi- 
ment or two, and holding the Relay House, a 
station nine miles from Baltimore. Before loaying 
on this expedition, ho asked General Scott what 
were the powers of a general commanding a 
department. The reply was, that, except as 
limited by specific orders and by military law, 
his powers were absolute ; he could do whatever 
he thought best. Upon receiving this information. 
General Butler privately consulted an officer of 
engineers, who ascertained for him, by reference 
to authoritative maps, that the city of Baltimore 
was within the Department of Annapolis, as de- 
fined in the order creating it. 



Saturday afternoon, May 4th, the Eighth Now 
York, the Sixth Massachusetts, and Cook's bat- 
tery of artillery received the welcome order to 
be ready to march by two o'clock the next 
morning. General Butler had given a solemn 
promise to the Sixth, his own home regiment, 
which he had joined before his beard was grown, 
that thej' should, one day, if his advice was 
taken, march again through Baltimore. His 
selection of the regiment on this occasion was 
the beginning of the fullillment of that promise. 
At daylight on Sunday morning, a train of thirty 
cars glided from the depot at Washington ; from 
which, two hours later, the regiments issued at 
the Relay House, where they seized the depot and 
swarmed over the adjoining hills, rLConnoitering. 

No enemy was discovered ; there was no for- 
midable enemy at that time any where near 
Washington and there had not been ; but every 
man they met had something terrible to tell 
them of rebel dragoons hovering near. Cannons 
were planted on the heights. Camps were 
formed, and scouting parties sent out. Officers 
were detailed to go through ah passing trains 
and seize articles contraband of war — such as 
weapons, powder, and intrenching tools. The 
general wrote to Washington to know if ho might 
not arrest certain prominent traitors who lived 
near — members of the Carroll family and others. 
He concluded his first dispatch with these words : 
" I find the people here exceedingly friendly, and 
I have no doubt that with my present Ibrce I 
could march through Baltimore. I am the more 
convinced of this because I learn that, for several 
days, many of the armed secessionists have left 
for Harper's Ferry, or have gone forth plundering 
the country. I trust my acts will meet your ap- 
probation, whatever you may think of my sug- 
gestions." 

General Butler remained a week at the Relay 
House. Large numbers of friendly people from 
Baltimore drove out to his camp, and, with them, 
some who were not friendly. He became per- 
fectly well informed of the condition of the city. 
General Scott wrote approvingly of his acts, and 
authorized him to use his discretion in arresting 
the disaffected, and in seizing contraband articles. 
He also informed him that he need not I'emaia 
at the Relay House " longer than he deemed his 
presence there of importance." He did not. 

On the 13th of May, General Butler arrived at 
the conclusion that liis pres»nce at the Relay 
House was no longer necessary. Early in the 
morning, ho telegraphed to General Sco;t, among 
other things, that Baltimore was in tiie depart- 
ment of Annapolis. An answer came back from 
Colonel Schuyler Hamilton, then on the stafl'of 
the lieutenant-general, which certainly could not 
be construed as Ibrbidding the movement con- 
templated. 

" General Scott desires me to invite your at- 
tention to certain guilty parties in Baltimore, 
namely, those connected with the guns and mil- 
itary cloths seized by your troops (at the Relay 
House), as well as the baker who furnished sup- 
plies of bread for Harper's Ferry. It is probable 
that you will find them, on inquiry, proper sub- 
jects lor seizure and examination. He acknow- 
ledges your telegram o." this morning, and is happy 
to lind that Baltimore is within your department." 

Later in the day, arrived a second dispatch 
from Colonel HamiJiou: — 



BALTIMORE. 



27 



" General Scott desires me to inform you that 
he has received information, believed to be re- 
liable, that several tons of gunpowder, designed 
or those unlawfully combined against the govern- 
ment, are stored in a church in Baltimore, in the 
neighbourhood of Calhoun street, between Balti- 
more and Fayette streets. He invites your at- 
tention to the subject." 

It is said that General Scott, who required 
much sleep, and who was oppressed with a nud- 
tiplicity of business, did not always scrutinize 
very closely the dispatches sent in his name, 
when they were supposed to relate to matters of 
mere detail. It may be that the meaning and 
tendency of these di.-patches escaped his atten- 
tion. Colonel Hamilton, who had enjoyed the 
opportunity at Annapolis of becoming acquain- 
ted with the quality of the Massachusetts briga- 
dier, was, certainly, not inclined to place any 
obstacles in his way. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon of May 13th, 
the rebel. spies at the Kelay House felt sure, 
that at length, they were about to have some- 
thing important to communicate to their employ- 
ers at Baltimore. Two trains of cars stood upon 
the track, both headed toward Harper's Ferry, 
both loaded with troops. One was a short train, 
with a force of fifty men on board. The other 
was of immense length. It contained the whole 
of the Sixth Massachusetts, some companies of 
the New York Eiglith, and two pieces of artillery, 
in all nine hundred men. The general's white 
horse, horses for the staff and artillery were on 
the train. When everything was in readiness, 
word was brought to the general that two fast 
Baltimore trotters were harnessed in a stable 
near b}'', which were to convey the tidings of the 
movement to Baltimore the moment the trains 
had started. 

" Let them go," said the general. 

The two trains moved slowly toward Harper's 
Ferry. The fast nags, at the same moment, 
were put on the road to Baltimore. General 
Butler secretly resolved to give them plenty of 
time to reach the city. Except himself and a 
few members of his staff, every man in the train 
was ignorant of his real design. 

Two miles from the Relay House, both trains 
halted a while. Then the smaller train kept on 
its way. It was bound to Fredciick, where tlie 
troops were ordered to seize the millionaire, Ross 
Winans, and the machine then figuring ominous- 
ly in the newspapers, or Winan's steam gun ; a 
useless rattle-trap, as it proved. Winans was a 
thorough-going traitor, and one who, from his 
prodigious wealth (fifteen millions, it was 
thougbt), could give his fellow traitors abundant 
aid and very solid comfort. Already, he had 
manufactured five thousand pikes for the use of 
the Baltimore mob against the forces summoned 
by his country to delend its capital. An arch- 
traitor, and an old ; gray hairs did what they 
could to "make his folly venerable." If ever 
treason was committe>l, he had committed it; for 
he had not even the empty excuse of the passage 
of an ordinance of secession by the legislature of 
his state. General Butler will interpret his or- 
ders with exact literalness, if this hoary-headed 
traitor falls into his hands, while he remains in 
command of the department of Annapolis, includ- 
ing the city of Baltimore. 

About six o'clock in the evening, the long 



train, with its nine hundred men, the artillery 
and the horses, backed slowly past the Relay 
House again, and continued backing until it 
reached the depot at Baltimore. 

A thunder storm of singular character, extra- 
ordinary both for its violence and its extent, 
hung over the city, black as midnight. It was 
nearly dark when the train arrived. No rain 
had yet fallen ; but the whole city was soon en- 
veloped in rushing clouds of dust. Flashes of 
lightning, vivid, incessant — peals of thunder, 
loud and continuous, gave warning of the com- 
ing deluge. The depot was nearly deserted, 
and scarcely any one was in the streets. By 
the time the troops were formed, it had become 
dark, except when the flashes of lightning illu- 
mined the scene, as if with a thousand Drum- 
niond lamps. This continuous change, from a 
blinding glare of light to darkness the most 
complet,e, was so bewildering, that if the gen- 
eral had not had a guide familiar with the city, 
he could scarcely have advanced from the dep6t. 
This guide was Mr. Robert Hare of Philadelphia, 
son of the celebrated chemist, who, after ren- 
dering valuable services to the general else- 
where, had joined him at the Relay House, and 
now volunteered to pilot him to Federal Hill. 

The word was given, and the troops silently 
emerged from the depot ; the general, Mr. Hare, 
and the statl' in the advance. The orders were, 
for no man to speak a needless word ; no drums 
to beat ; and if a shot was fired from a house, 
halt, arrest every inmate, and destroy the house, 
leaving not one brick upon another. 

When the line had cleared the depot, the 
storm burst. Such torrents of rain! Such a 
ceaseless blaze of lightning 1 Such crashes and 
volleys of thunder 1 At one moment the long 
line of bayonets, the ranks of firm white faces, 
the burnished cannon, the horses and their 
riders, the signs upon the houses, and every 
minutest object, would flash out of the gloom 
with a distinctness inconceivable. The next, a 
pall of blackest darkness would drop upon the 
scene. Not a countenance appeared in any 
window; for, so incessant was the thunder 
that the tramp of horses, the tread of men, the 
rumble of the cannon, were not heard ; or if 
heard for a moment, not distinguished from the 
multitudinous noises of the storm. As the gen- 
eral and his staff gained the summit of Federal 
Hill, which rises abruptly from the midst of the 
town, and turned to look back upon the troops 
winding up the steep ascent, a flash of uu- 
equaled briUiancy gave such startling splendor 
to the scene, that an exclamation of wonder 
and delight broke from every lip. The troops 
were formed upon the summit, the cannon were 
planted, and Baltimore was their own. 

Except a shanty or two, used in peaceful 
times as a lager-beer garden, there was no shel- 
ter on the hill. The men had to stand still in 
the pouring rain, with what patience they could. 
When the storm abated, scouts were sent out, 
who ferreted out a wood-yard, from which 
thirty cords of wood were brought ; and soon 
the top of the hill presented a cheerful scene 
and picturesque ; arms stacked and groups of 
steaming soldiers standing around fifty blazing 
fires, each man revolving irregularly on his axij, 
trying to get himself and his blanket dry. 

General Butler established his head-quarters 



28 



BALTIMORE. 



in the Gorman slianty. An officer, who had 
been scouting;, Ciimc to him there in consider- 
able excitement, and said: 

" I am informed, general, that this hill is 
mined, and that wc arc all to bo blown up." 

"Get a lantern,'' replied the general, "and 
you and I will walk round the base of the hill, 
and see." 

They found, indeed, deep cavities in the side 
of the hill, but these proved to be places whence 
sand had been dug for building. After a tho- 
rough examination, the general said : 

"I don't think we shall bo blown up; but if 
we are, there is one comfort, it will dry us all." 

Returning to his shanty. General Butler, still 
as wet as water could make him, set about pre- 
paring his proclamation. 

At half-past eight in the morning, he received 
a note from the mayor, which showed how com- 
pletely liis movements had been concealed by 
the storm. The note had been written during 
the previous evening. 

" I have just been informed," wrote the 
mayor, " tiiat you have arrived at the Camden 
Station with a large body of troops under your 
command. As the sudden arrival of a force 
will create much surprise in the community, I 
beg to be informed whether you propose that it 
shall remain at the Camden Station, so that the 
police may be notified, and proper precautions 
may be taken to prevent any disturbance of the 
peace." 

The mayor had not long to wait for informa- 
tion. An extra CVq-ijitr of the morning, con- 
taining General Butler's proclamation, advised 
all Baltimore of his intentions, which simplj^ 
were to maintain intact the constitutional au- 
thority of the government of the United States 
against traitors, armed and unarmed. 

Not tlio slightest disturbance of the peace 
occurred. The suggestions and requests of the 
general were observed. There was plenty of 
private growling, and some small, furtive exhi- 
bitions of disgust, but nothing that could 
be called opposition. Contraband gunpowder, 
pikes, arms and provisions were seized. The 
Union flag was hoisted upon buildings belong- 
ing to the United States, and the flag of treason 
nowhere appeared. The camp equipage of the 
troops was brought in, and camps were formed 
upon the hill. J^^arJy in the afternoon, General 
Butler and his stalf mounted their horses, and 
rode leisurely through the streets to the Gilmore 
house, where they dismounted, and strolled into 
the dining room and dined; after which they 
remounted, and enjoyed a longer ride in the 
streets, meeting no molestation, exciting much 
muttered remark. General Butler does not 
mount a horse quite in the style of a London 
guardsman. In mounting before the Gilmore 
house, across a wide gutter, he had some little 
difficulty in bestriding his horse, which, a pass- 
ing traitor observing, gave rise to the report, 
promptly conveyed to Washington, that the 
general was drunk that day, in the streets of 
Baltimore. Such a misfortune is it to have 
Bhort legs, witii a gutter and a horse to get 
over. From that time, the soldiers, in twos 
and threes, walked freely about the city, ex- 
hilarated, now and then, by a little half-sup- 
pressed vituperation from men, and a ludicrous 
display of petulance on the part of lovely 



woman. Often they were stopped in the streets 
by Union men, who shook them warmly by the 
hand and thanked them for coming to their de- 
liverance. 

There is a limit to the endurance of man. 
General Butler performed that day, one of his 
day's work. At night, exhausted to an ex- 
treme, for ho had not lain down in forty hours, 
and racked with headache, ho ventured to go to 
bed; leaving orders, however, that he was to be 
instantly notified if anything extraordinary oc- 
curred. It perversely happened that many ex- 
traordinary things did occur that night. Some 
important seizures were made ; some valuable 
information was brought in; many plausible 
rumors gained a hearing; and, consequently, 
the general was disturbed about every half hour 
during the night. He rose in the morning un- 
refreshed, feverish, almost sick. His feelings 
may be imagined, when, at half-past eight, he 
received the following dispatch from the lieu- 
tenant-general, dated May 14th: 

"Sir, — Your hazardous occupation of Balti- 
more was made witiiout my knowledge, and, of 
course, without my approbation. It is a God- 
send, that it was witiiout conflict of arms. It 
is, also, reported, that you have sent a detach- 
ment to Frederick ; but this is impossible. Not 
a word have I received from you as to either 
movement. Let me hear from you." 

This epistle was not precisely what General 
Butler thought was due to an otficer who, with 
nine hundred men, had done what General Scott 
was preparing to do with twelve thousand. It 
was a damper. It looked like a rebuke for 
doing his duty too well. The sick general took 
it much to heart; not for his own sake merely; 
he could not but augur ill of the conduct of the 
war if a neat and trium[)hant little audacity, hke 
his march into Baltimore, was to be rewarded 
with an immediate snub from head-quarters. 
Being only a militia brigadier, he did not clearly 
see how a war was to be carried on without 
incurring some slight risk, now and then, of a 
conflict of arms. 

But there was little time for meditation. 
There were duties to be done. For one item, 
he had Ross Winans a prisoner in Fort Mc- 
Henry ; his pikes and steain-gun being also in 
safe custody, with other evidences of his treason. 
He was preparing to try Mr. Winans by court- 
martial, and telegraphed to Mr. Cameron, asking 
him not to interfere, at least not to release him, 
until General Butler could go to Washington 
and explain the turpitude of his guilt. It was, 
and is, tiie general's opinion, that the summary 
execution of a traitor worth fifteen millions, 
would have been an exhibition of moral 
strength on the part of the govenmient, such 
as the times required. His guilt was beyond 
question. If there is, or can be, such a crime 
as treason against the United States, this man 
had committed it, not in language only, but in 
overt acts, numerous and aggravated. Mr. 
Seward, I need scarcely say, took a dillerent 
view of the matter. Winans was released. 
Why his pikes and his steam-gun were not 
returned to him docs not appear. A few 
montlis after, it was found necessary to place 
him again in confinement. 

Nothing would appease General Scott short of 
the recall of General Butler from Baltimore, and 



BALTIMORE. 



29 



the withdrawal of the troops from Federal Tlill. 
General Butler was recalled, and General Cad- 
wallader ruled in his stead. The troops were 
temporarily removed, and General Butler re- 
turned to Washington. 

That the president did not concur with the 
rebuke of General Scott, was shown by hi^ 
iminediatel}' otTering General Butler a conimis- 
aioQ as major-general, and the command of 
Fortress Monroe. Tliat the secretary of war did 
not concur with it, I infer from a passage of one 
of his letters from St. Petersburgh. " I always 
said," wrote Mr. Cameron, "that if you had 
been left at Baltimore, the rebellion would have 
been of short duration;" a remark, the full sig- 
nificance of which may, one day become apparent 
to the American people. I believe I may say 
without improperly using the papers before me, 
that more tlian one member of the cabinet held 
the opinion, that General Butler's recall from 
Baltimore was solely due to his frustration of the 
sublime strategic scheme of taking that city by 
the simultaneous advance of four columns of 
three thousand men each. 

The people made known their opinion of Gen- 
eral Butler's conduct in all the usual ways. On 
the evening of his arrival in Washington, he was 
serenaded, and abundantly cheered. His little 
speech on this occasion was a great hit. The 
remarkable feature of it was, that it expressed, 
without exaggeration, as without suppression, 
his habitual feeling respecting the war into which 
the nation was groping its way. He talked to 
the crowd just as he had often talked, and talks 
to a knot of private friends: 

"Fellow-Citizens: — Your cheers for the old 
commonwealth of Massachusetts are rightly 
bestowed. Foremost in the ranks of those who 
fought for the liberty of the country in the revo- 
lution were the men of Massachusetts. It is a 
historical fact, to which I take pride in now 
referring, that in the revolution, Massachusetts 
sent more men south of Mason and Dixon's line 
to fight for the cause of the country, than all 
the southern colonies put together ; and in this 
second war, if war must cozne, to proclaim the 
Declaration of Independence anew, and as a 
necessary consequence, establish the Union and 
the constitution, Massachusetts will give, if ne- 
cessary, every man iu her borders, ay, and 
woman! [Cheers.] I trust I may be excused 
for speaking thus of Massachusetts ; but I am 
confident there are many within the sound of my 
voice whose hearts beat with proud memories of 
the old commonwealth. There is this dilierence, 
I will say, between our southern brothers and 
ourselves, that while we love our state with the 
true love of a son, we love the Union and the 
country with an equal devotion. [Loud and 
prolonged applause.] We place no 'state rights' 
before, above, and beyond the Union. [Cheers.] 
To us our country is first, because it is our coun- 
try [three cheers], and our state is next and 
second, because she is a part of our country and 
our state. [Renewed applause.] Our oath of 
allegiance to our country, and our oath of alle- 
giance to our state, are interwreathed harmoni- 
ously, and never come in conflict nor clash. He 
who does his duty to the Union, does his duty 
to the state ; and he who does his duty to the 
state does his duty to the Union — ' one insep- 



arable, now and for ever.' [Renewed applause.] 
As I look upon this demonstration of yours, I 
believe it to be prompted by a love of the com- 
mon cause, and our common country — a country 
so great and good, a government so kind, so be- 
neficent, that the hand from which we have 
only felt kindness, is now for the fir.st time raised 
in chastisement. [Applause.] Many things in 
a man's life may ba worse than death. So, to a 
government there may be many things, such as 
dishonor and disintegration, worse than the 
shedding of blood. [Cheers.] Our fathers pur- 
chased our liberty and country for us at an 
immense cost of treasure and blood, and by the 
bright heavens above us, we will not part with 
them without first paying the original debt, and 
the interest to this date 1 [Loud cheers.] We 
have in our veins the same blood as they shed ,' 
we have the same power of endurance, the same 
love of liberty and law. We will hold as a 
brother him who stands by the Union ; we wiU 
hold as an enemy him who would strike from 
its constellation a single star. [Applause.] But, 
I hear some one say, ' Sliall we carry on this 
fratricidal war? Shall we shed our brothers' 
blood, and meet in arms our brothers in the 
South ?' I would say. As our fathers did not 
hesitate to strike the mother country in the de- 
fense of our rights, so we should not hesitate to 
meet the brother as they did the mother.' If 
this unholy, this fratricidal war, is forced upon 
us, I say, ' Woe, woe to them who have made the 
necessity. Our hands are clean, our hearts are 
pure; but the Union must be preserved [intense 
cheering. When silence was restored, ho con- 
tinued] at all hazard of money, and, if need be, 
of every life this side of the arctic regions, 
[Cheers.] If the 25,000 northern soldiers who 
are here, are cut off, in six; weeks 50,000 will 
take their place ; and if they die by fever, pes- 
tilence, or the sword, a quarter of a million will 
take their place, till our army of the reserve will be 
women with their broom slicks, to drive every 
enemy into the gulf. [Cheers and laughter.] 
I have neither fear nor doubt of the issue. I 
feel only horror and dismay for those who have 
made the war. God help theml we are here 
for our rights, for our country, for our flag. Our 
faces are set south, and there shall be no footstep 
backward. [Immense applause.] He is mis- 
taken who supposes we can be intimidated by 
tlireats or cajoled by compromise. The day of 
compromise is past. 

" The government must be sustained [cheers] ; 
and when it is sustained, we shall give everybody 
in the Union their rights under the constitution, 
as we always have, and everybody outside of 
the Union the steel of the Union, till they shall 
come under the Union. [Cheers, and cries of 
good, go on.'] It is impossible for me to go on 
speech making ; but if you will go home to your 
beds, and the government will let me, I wifl go 
south fighting for the Union, and you will foUow 
me." — N. Y. Daily Times. 

A different scene awaited him the next morn- 
ing in the office of the lieutenant-general, re- 
specting which it is best to say little. He bore 
the lecture for half an hour without replying. 
But General Butler's patience under unworthy 
treatment is capable of being exhausted. It 
was exhausted on this occasion. Indeed, the 



30 



FORTRESS MONROE. 



spectacle of cumbrous inefficiency which the 
hcad-quartors of tlie army then presented, and 
continued long to present, was such as to grieve 
and alarm every man acquainted with it, who 
had also an adequnte knowledge of the formid- 
able task to wliich the country had addressed 
itself. I am not ashamed to relate, that General 
Butler, on reaching his apartment, was so deeply 
moved by what had passed, and by the inler- 
ences he could but draw by what had passed, 
that ho burst into hysteric sobs, which he found 
himself for some minutes, unable to repress. 
And, what was v/orse, ho had serious thoughts 
of declining the proferred promotion, and going 
home to resume his practice at the bar. Not 
that his zeal had flagged in the cause ; but it 
seemed doubtful whether, in the circumstances, 
a man of cnlerpriso and energy would be 
allowed to do .anything of moment to promote 
the pause. 



CHAPTER Y. 



FORTRESS MONROE. 



The president had no lecture to bestow upon 
General Eatler; but, on the contrary, compli- 
ment and congratulation. He urged him to 
accept the command of Fortress Monroe, and use 
the same energy in retaking Norfolk as he had 
displayed at Annapolis and Baltimore. After a 
day's consideration, the general said he was will- 
ing enough to accept the proflered promotion 
and the command of the fortress, if he could have 
the means of being useful there. As a base for 
active operations, Fortress Monroe was good ; 
he only objected to it as a convenient tomb for a 
troublesome militia general. Could he have four 
Massachusetts regiments, two batteries of field 
artillery, and the other requisites for a successful 
advance ? Not that Massachusetcs troops were 
better than others, only he knew them better, 
and they him. Yes, he could have them, and 
should, and whatever else he needed for effective 
action. An active, energetic campaign was pre- 
cisely tho thing desired and expected of him, 
and nothing sliould be wanting on the part of 
tho government to render such a campaign pos- 
sible. This being understood he joyfully accep- 
ted the commission and tho command. General 
Butler's commission as myjor-general dates from 
May IGtli, two days after his thunderous march 
into Baltimore. He is now, therefore, in reality, 
tho senior major-general in the service of the 
United States. Ou that day, General McClellan 
and General Banks were still in the pay of tlieir 
respective railroad companies; General Dix was 
at home; General Fremont was in Europe, at- 
tending to his private affairs. 

May 22d, at eight o'clock in the morning, the 
guns of the fortress saluted General Butler as 
the commander of the post; and as soon a^ the 
ceremonies of his arrival were over, he proceeded 
to look about him, to learu what it was that had 
fallen to his share. In tho course of the day, he 
made great progress in tho pursuit of knowledge. 

This huge fort was one of the hinges of tho 
stable-door which was shut after the horse had 
been stolen, in tho war of 1812. It had 
nover be;u used for warlike purposes, and 



had been, usually, garrisoned by a company or 
two, or three, of regular troops, who paraded and 
drilled in its wide expanses with listless piinc- 
tuality, and fished in the surrounding waters, or 
strolled about the adjacent village. Colonel 
Dimmick was the commandant of tlie post when 
the war broke out ; a faitliful, noble-minded offi- 
cer, who, with his one man to eight yards oi 
rampart, kept Virginia from clutching tiio prize. 
Two or threo thousand volunteers had since 
made their way to the fortress, and wore en- 
camped on its grounds. 

General Butler soon discovered that of the 
many things necessary for the defense of the 
post, he had a sufficiency of one only, namely, 
men. There was not one horse belonging to the 
garrison ; nor one cart nor wagon. Provision 
barrels had to be rolled from the landing to the 
fort, three-quarters of a mile. There was no well 
or spring within the walls of the fortress ; but 
cisterns only, tilled with rain water, which had 
given out the summer before when there were 
but four hundred men at the post. Of ammu- 
nition, he had but five thousand rounds, less than 
a round and a half per man of the kind suited to 
tho greater number of the muskets brought by 
the volunteers. The fort was getting over- 
crowded with troops, and more were hourly ex- 
pected ; he would have nine more regiments in 
a few days. Room must be found for the new 
comers outside the walls. He found, too, that he 
had, in his vicinity, an active, numerous, and in- 
creasing enemy, who were busy fortityiug points 
of land opposite or near the fort ; points essential 
for his purposes. The garrison was, in effect, 
penned up in the peninsula ; a rebel picket a 
mile distant ; a rebel flag waving from Hampton 
Bridge in sight of the fortress ; rebel forces pre- 
paring to hem in the fortress on every side, as 
they had done Sumter; rumor, as usual, mag- 
nifying their numbers tenfold. Colonel Diaamick 
had been able to seize and hold the actual prop- 
erty of the government ; no more. 

Water being the most immediate necessity, 
General Butler directed his attention, first of all, 
to securing a more trustworthy supply. Can 
the artesian well be speedilj' finished, which was 
begun long ago and then suspended ? It could, 
thought Colonel de Russy, of the engineers, who, 
at once, at the general's request, consulted a con- 
tractor on the subject. Tliere was a spring a 
mile from the fortress, which furnished 700 gallons 
a day. Can tho water be conducted to tlie fort- 
ress by a temporary pipe? It can, reported the 
colonel of engineers; and the general ordered 
it to be done. Meanwhile, water from Baltimore, 
at two cents a gallon. To-morrow, Colonel 
Phelps, with his Vermontcrs, shall cross to 
Hampton, reconnoiter the country, and see if 
there is good camping ground in that direction : 
for the pine forest suggested by General Scott 
was reported by Colonel de Hussy to be un- 
healthy as well as waterless. lu a day or two. 
Commodore Stringham, urged thereto by General 
Butler, would have shelled out the rising battery 
at Sewall's Point, if he had not been suddenly 
ordered away to the blojkade of Charleston har- 
bor. Already llio general had an eye upon New- 
port News, elcvou miles to the south, directly 
upon one of the roads he meant to take by and 
by, when the promised means olotteusive warfare 
arrived. Word was brought that the enemy had 



FORTRESS MONROE. 



31 



an eye upon it, too ; and General Butler deter- 
mined to be there before them. That rolling of 
barrels from the lauding would never do ; on this 
first day, the general ordered surveys and esti- 
mates for a railroad between the wharf and the 
fortress. The men were eating hard biscuit : ho 
directed the construction of a new bake-house, 
that they might have bread. 

The next day, as every one remembers, 
Colonel Phelps mado his reconnoissance in 
Hampton and its vicinity — not without a show 
of opposition. Upon approaching the bridge 
over Hampton Creek, Colonel Phelps perceived 
that the rebels had set fire to the bridge. Rush- 
ing forward at the double-quick, the men tore 
off the burning planks and quickly e.xitinguished 
the fire ; then marching into the village, com- 
pleted tiieir reconnoissance, and performed some 
evolutions for the edification of the inhabitants. 
Colonel Phelps met there several of his old West 
Point comrades, whom he warned of the inevi- 
table failure of their bad cause, and advised them 
to abandon it in time. The general himself was 
soon on the ground, and took a ride of seven 
miles in the enemy's country that afternoon, still 
eager in the pursuit of knowledge. 

One noticeable thing was reported by the 
troops on their return. It was, that the negroes, 
to a man, were the trusting, enthusiastic friends 
of the Union soldiers. They were all glee and 
welcome ; and Colonel Phelps and his men were 
the last people in the world to be backward in 
responding to their salutations. No one knew 
bettor than he that in every worthy black man 
and woman in the South the Union could find a 
helping friend if it would. By whatever free- 
masonry it was brought about, the negroes re- 
ceived the impression, that day, that those Ver- 
monters and themselves were on the same side. 

This Colonel Phelps is one of the remarkable 
figures of tlie war. A tall, loose-jointed, stout- 
hearted, benignant man of fifty, the soul of hon- 
esty and goodness. It had been his fortune, 
before his retirement from the army, to be sta- 
tioned for many years in the South. For the 
last thirty years, if any one had desired to test, 
with the utmost possible severity, a New Eng- 
lander's manhood and intelligence, the way to do 
it was to make him an officer of the United 
States army, and station him in a slave state. 
If there was any lurking atom of baseness in 
him, slavery would bo sure to find it out, and 
work upon it to the corruption of the entire man. 
If there was even defective intelligence or weak- 
ness of will, as surely as he continued to live 
there, he would, at last, be found to have yielded 
to the seducing influence, and to have lost his 
moral sense : first enduring, then tolerating, de- 
fending, applauding, participating. For slavery 
is of such a nature, that it must either debauch 
or violently repel the man who is obliged to live 
long in the hourly contemplation of it. There 
can be no medium or moderation. No man can 
hate slavery a little, or like it a little. It must 
either spoil or madden him if he lives with it 
long enough. Colonel Phelps stood the test ; 
but, at the same time, the long dwelling upon 
wrongs which he could do nothing to redress, 
the long contemplation of sufferings which he 
could not stir t-o relieve, impaired, in some degree, 
the healthiness, the balance of his mind. He 
seemed, at times, a man of one idea. With such 



tenderness as his, such quickness and deptli of 
moral feeling, it is a wonder ho did not go raving 
mad. When the war began, he was at home 
upon his farm, a man of wealth for rural Ver- 
mont; and now ho was at Fortress Monroe, 
commanding a regiment of three mouths' militia; 
a very model of a noble, brave, modest, and 
righteous warrior, full in the belief that the 
longed-for lime of deliverance had come. It 
was a strange coming together, this of the Mas- 
sachusetts democrat and the Vermont abolitionist 
— both armed in the same cause. General But- 
ler felt all the worth of his new friend, and they 
worked together with abundant harmony and 
good-will. 

Colonel Phelps's reconnoissance led to the 
selection of a spot between Hampton and the 
fort for an encampment. The next day, General 
Butler went in person to Newport News, and, 
on the fifth day after taking command of the 
post, had a competent force at tliat vital point, 
intrenching and fortifying. Meanwhile, in ex- 
tensive dispatches to head-quarters, ho had made 
known to General Scott his situation and his 
wants. Ho asked for horses, vehicles, ammuni- 
tion, field-artillery, and a small force of cavalry. 
Also (for attacks upon the enemy's shore batter- 
ies), he asked for fifty surf-boats, " of such con- 
struction as the lieutenant-general caused to be 
prepared for the landing at Vera Cruz, the effi- 
ciency and adaptedness of which has passed into 
history." He asked for the completion of tho 
artesian well, and the construction of the short 
railroad. He justified the occupation of New- 
port News, on the ground that it lay close to the 
obvious highway, by water, to Richmond, upon 
which already General Butler had cast a gen- 
eral's eye. 

On the evening of the second day after his 
arrival at , the post, the event occurred which 
will for over connect the name of General But- 
ler with the history of the abolition of slavery 
in America. Colonel Phelps's visit to Hampton 
had thrown the white inhabitants into such 
alarm that most of them prepared for flight, 
and many left their homes that night, never to 
see them again. In the confusion three negroes 
escaped, and, making their way across the 
bridges, gave themselves up to a Union picket, 
saying that their master. Colonel Mallory, wa,s 
about to remove them to North Carolina to work 
upon rebel fortifications there, far away from 
their wives and children, who were to be left in 
Hampton. They were brought to the fortress, 
and the circumstance was reported to the gen- 
eral in the morning. He questioned each of 
them separately, and tho truth of their story 
became manifest. He needed laborers. He was 
aware that the rebel batteries that were rising 
around liim were the work chiefly of slaves, 
without whose assistance they could not have 
been erected in time to give him trouble. He 
wished to keep tliese men. Tho garrison wished 
them kept. The country would have deplored 
or resented the sending of them away. If they 
had been Colonel Mallory's horses, or Colonel 
Mallory's spades, or Colonel Mallory's percussion 
caps, he would have seized them and used them, 
without hesitation. Why not property more 
valuable for the purposes of the rebellion than 
any other ? 

He pronounced tho electric words, " These 



32 



FORTRESS MONROE. 



men are Contraband of War; set them at 
work." 

"An epigram," as Winthrop remarks, "abol- 
ished slavery in the United Stales." The word 
took; for it gave the country :in excuse for doing 
vviiat it was longing to do. Every one remem- 
bers how relieved the " conservative " portion 
of the people felt, when they found that the 
slaves could be used on the side of the Union, 
without giving Kentucky a new argumont 
against it, Kentucky at tliat moment controlling 
the policy of the adrnuiistratiou. " The South," 
said Wendell Phillips, in a recent speech. 
" fought to sustain slavery, and tha North fought 
not to have it hurt. But Butler pronounced the 
magic word, 'contraband,' and summoned the 
negro iuto the arena. It was a poor word. I 
do not know that it is sound law ; but Lord 
Chatham said, ' nuUus liber Iwmd' is coarse Latin, 
but it is worth all the classics. Contraband is a 
bad word, and may bo bad law, but it is worth 
all the Constitution ; for in a moment of critical 
emergency it summoned the saving elements 
into tlie national arena, and it showed the gov- 
ernment how far the sound fiber of the nation 
extended." 

By the time the three negroes were comfort- 
ably at work upon the new bake-house, General 
Butler received the following brief epistle, 
signed, "J. B. Carey, major-acting, Virginia vol- 
unteers : " 

" Be pleased to designate some time and place 
when it will be agreeable to you to accord mo a 
personal interview." 

The general complied with the request. In 
the afternoon two groups of horsemen might 
have been seen approaching one another on the 
Hampton road, a mile from the fort. One of 
these consisted of G-enoral Butler and two of his 
stafif, Major Fay and Captain Ilaggerty; the 
other, of Major Carey and two or three friends. 
Major Carey and Creneral Butler were old politi- 
cal allies, having acted in concert both at 
Charleston and at Baltimore — hard-shell demo- 
crats both. After an exchange of courteous 
salutations, and tlie introduction of companions, 
the conference began. The conversation, was, 
as nearly a.s can be recalled, in these words: 

Major Carey: "I have sought this interview, 
sir, for the purpose of ascertaining upon what 
principles you intend to conduct the war in this 
neighborhood." 

The general bowed his willingness to give the 
information desired. 

Major Carey: "I ask, first, whether a pas- 
sage tlirough the blockading fleet will be al- 
lowed to the families of citizens of Virginia, 
who may desire to go north or south to a place 
of safely." 

General Butler: "The presence of the fam- 
ilies of belligerents is always the best hostage 
for their good behavior. One of the objects of 
the blockade is to prevent the admission of sup- 
plies of provisions into Virginia, wliile she con- 
tinues in an attitude hostile to the government. 
Reducing the number of consumers would ne- 
cessarily tend to tlie postponement of the object 
in view. Besides, the passage of vessels 
through the blockade would involve an amount 
of labor, in the way of surveillance, to prevent 
abuse, which it would bo impossible to perform 



I am under the necessity, therefore, of refusing 
the privilege." 

Major Carey: will the passage of families de- 
siring to go north be permitted ?" 

General Butler: with the exception of an in- 
terruption at Baltimore, which has now been dis- 
l^osed of, the travel of peaceable citizens through 
the Norlli has not been hindered ; and as to the 
internal line through Virginia, your friends have, 
for the present, entire control of it. The au- 
thorities at Washington can judge better than I 
upon this point, and travelers can well go that 
way in reaching the North." 

Major Carey : I am informed that three ne- 
groes, belonging to Colonel Mallory, have es- 
caped witiiin your lines. I am Colonel Mal- 
lory's agent, and have charge of his property. 
What do you intend to do with regard to those 
negroes?" 

General Butler: I propose to retain them." 

Major Carey: "Do you moan, then, to set 
aside your constitutional obligations ?" 

General Butler : " I mean to abide by the de- 
cision of Virginia, as expressed in her ordinance 
of secession, passed the day before yesterday. 
I am under no constitutional obligations to a 
foreign country, which Virginia now claims to 
be." 

Major Gary : " But you say, we canH secede, 
and so you can not consistently detain the ne- 
groes." 

General Butler: "But 3'ou say you have se- 
ceded, and so you can not consistently claim 
them. I shall detain the negroes as contraband 
of war. You are using them upon your bat- 
teries. It is merely a question whotlier they 
shall be used for or against the government. 
Nevertheless, though I greatly need the labor 
which has providentially fallen into ray bands, 
if Colonel Mallory will come into the fort and 
take the oath of allegiance to the United States, 
lie shall have his negroes, and I will endeavor 
to hire them from him." 

Major Carey : " Colonel Mallory is absent" 

The interview here terminated, and each 
party, with polite fareweU, went its way. 

This was on Friday, May 24. On Sunday 
morning, eight more negroes came in, and were 
received. On Monday morning, forty-seven 
more, of all ages; men, women, and children; 
several whole families among them. In the after- 
noon, twelve men, good field hands, arrived. 
And they continued to come in daily, in tens, 
twenties, thirties, till the number of contrabands 
in the various camps numbered more than nine 
hundred. A commissioner of negro aSairs was 
appointed, who taught, fed, and governed them; 
who reported, after several weeks' experience, 
that they worked well and cheerfully, requiring 
no urging, and perfectly comprehended him 
when ho told them that they were as much 
entitled to freedom as himselt^ They were 
gentle, docile, careful and efficient laborers; 
their demeanor dignified, their conversation al- 
ways decent. 

Many strange scenes occurred in connection 
with this flight of tlio negroes to " Freedom 
Fort," as they styled it; tor one of which, per- 
haps, space may be spared here. It gives us a 
glimpse into one of tiiose ancient Virginia homes 
suddenly desolated by the war. Major Win- 



FORTRESS MONROE. 



throp, I should premise, had now arrived at the 
fortress. He came just iu tiaie to take the place 
of miUtary secretary to the general commanding, 
which had been vacant only a day or two, and 
was now a happy member of the general's fam- 
ily, winning his rapid way to all hearts. I 
mention him here because his comrades re- 
member how intensely amused he was at the 
interview about to be described. If he had 
lived a few days longer than he did, he would 
probably have told it himself, iu his brief, bright, 
graphic manner. The office of the general at 
head-quarters was the place where the scene 
occurred. 

Enter, an elderly, grave, church-warden look- 
ing gentleman, apparently oppressed with care 
and grief He was recognized as a respectable 
farmer of the neighborhood, the owner, so 
called, of thirty or forty negroes, and a farm- 
house in the dilapidated style of architecture, 
which might be named the Virginian Order. 
Advancing to the table he announced his name 
and business. He said lie had come to ask the 
officer commanding the post for the return of 
one of his negroes — only one ; and he proceeded 
to relate the circumstances upon which he based 
his modest request. But he told his tale in a 
manner so measured and woful, revealing such a 
curious ignorance of any other world than the 
little circle of ideas and persons in which ho had 
moved all his life, with such naive and comic 
simplicity, that the hearers found it impossible 
to take a serious view of his really lamentable 
situation. He proceeded in something like these 
words: — 

" I have always treated my negroes kindly. 
I supposed they loved me. Last Sunday, I went 
to church. "When I returned from church, and 
entered into my house, I called Mary to take off 
my coat and hang it up. But Mary did not 
come. And again I called Mary in a louder 
voice, but I received no answer. Then I went 
into the room to find Mary, but I found her not. 
There was no one in the room. I went into the 
kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen. I 
went into the garden. There was no one in the 
garden. I went to the negro quarters. There 
was no one at the negro quarters. All my ne- 
groes had departed, sir, while I was at the house 
of God. Then I went back again into my house. 
And soon there came to me James, who has 
been my body-servant for many years. And I 
said to James ; 

" ' James, what has happened ?' 

" And James said, ' All the people have gone 
to the fort.' 

" ' "While I was gone to the house of God, 
James ?' 

" And Jamea said, ' Yes, master, they're all 
gone.' 

" And I said to James, ' why didn't you go 
too, James ?' 

" And James said, ' Master, I'll never leave 
you.' 

" ' "Well James,' said I, ' as there's nobody to 
cook, see if you can get me some cold victuals 
and some whisky.' 

" So James got me some cold victuals, and I 
ate them with a heavy heart. And when I had 
eaten, I said to James ; 

" ' James, it is of no use for us to stay here. 
Let us go to your mistress.' 



" His mistress, sir, had gone away from her 
home, eleven miles, fleeing from the dangers of 
the war. 

" 'And, so, James,' said I, 'harness the best 
horse to the cart, and put into the cart our best 
bed, and some bacon, and some corn meal, and, 
James, some whisky, and wo will go unto your 
mistress.' 

"And James did even as I told him, and some 
few necessaries besides. And we started. It 
was a heavy load for the horse. I trudged along 
on foot, and James led the horse. It was late at 
night, sir, when we arrived, and I said to 
James : 

" ' James, it is of no use to unload the cart to- 
night. Put the horse into the barn, and unload 
the cart in the morning.' 

" And James said, ' Yes, master.' 

" I met my wife, sir ; I embraced her, and 
went to bed ; and, notwithstanding my troubles, 
I slept soundly. The nest morning, James ivas 
gone ! Then I came here, and the first thing I 
saw, when I got here, was James peddling cab- 
bages to your men out of that very cart." 

Up to this point, the listeners had managed to 
keep their countenances under tolerable control. 
But the climax to the story was drawled out in 
a manner so lugubriously comic, that neither 
the general nor the staff could longer conceal 
their laughter. The poor old gentleman, uncon- 
scious of any but the serious aspects of his case, 
gave them one sad, reproachful look, and left 
the fort without uttering another word. He had 
fallen upon evil times. 

General Butler, meanwhile, had been studying 
the country around him. His dispatches to 
head-quarters teem with evidence that inex- 
perienced as he was iu the business of waging 
war, he comprehended the advantages and op- 
portunities of his position. The uppermost 
thought in his mind was, that the way to Rich- 
mond was by the James river — not through the 
mazes of Manassas and the wilderness beyond. 
"What he meant was this : 

Begin the war herk. Strike at Richmond 
from this point. Sever Virginia from the South, 
by darting hence upon her railroad centers. 
Make war where your navy can co-operate. Use 
the means which God and nature have given 
you, and which Colonel Dimmick preserved. 
Don't sit there in "Washington, puttering upon 
forts and defenses, listening anxiously to the roar 
from the North, " On to Richmond ;" but give the 
enemy something to do elsewhere, far away from 
your capital and your sacred things, yet made 
near to you by your command of the sea. 

General Butler's plans might not have been 
completely successful ; but if they had been 
adopted we should have had no Bull Run ; and 
perhap.?, no Merrimac — the true cause of the 
failure of the peninsular campaign. Other dis- 
asters we might have suffered, but surely 
nothing so bad as Bull Run and the Merrimac, 
the most costly calamities that ever befell a 
country. 

General Scott, intent solely on the defense of 
"Washington, replied so vaguely to our gen- 
eral's eager and frequent dispatches' that he 
could scarcely tell whether his plans were ap- 
proved or disapproved. If, however, the words ol 
the commander-in-chief were equivocal, his con- 
duct was not. No horses were sent, nor battery 



34 



GREAT BETHEL. 



of field artillery, nor vehicles, nor cavalry, nor 
boats. No objection to the railroad, the artesian 
well, the bake-house, the intrenched camps ; but 
■whatever was ueedftil for an advance beyond 
Jjalf a day's inarch was withheld. Such was the 
scarcity of horses that the troops were constantly 
seen drawing wagon loads of supplies. A re- 
porter writes : " A picture in the drama of the 
camp has this momeut passed my quarters. It 
is a gang of tlie Massachusetts boys hauling a 
huge military wagon, loaded. They have struck 
up 'The Red, White and Blue.' They believe 
in it, and consequently render it with true 
patriotic inspiration. They pause and give three 
rousing cheers ; and now they dash off like fire- 
men, wliich they are, shouting and thundering 
along at a pace that makes the drowsy horses 
they pass prick up their ears." To supply the 
most pressing occasions, General Butler had nine 
horses of his own brought from Lowell, and 
these were all he had for the public service for 
more tlian two mouths. Another reporter writes, 
June 28th : "Among the passengers on board 
the steamer to the fortress was Colonel Butler, 
brother of the general, who went to Washington 
last week to get orders for the purchase of 
horses, without which not a single step can be 
made in advance, simply because the forces here 
are entirely destitute of the means of transpor- 
tation. He got orders and succeeded in buying 
one hundred and thirty-five very good horses, 
mainly in Baltimore, whereupon the government 
innnediately sent up and took one hundred of 
them for the artillery service at Washington. 
This was pretty sharp practice, and gives rise to 
comment on the inability of the authorities at 
the capital to see anything but Washington 
worthy of a moment's thought in connection 
with the present war." 

The lamentable affair of Great Bethel occurred 
while General Butler was waiting for the sup- 
plies wiiich were requisite for successful op- 
erations in the field. It happened thus : 

Tiie forced inaction of General Butler had the 
effect of making the enemy bolder in approaching 
his lines. They would send parties from York- 
town, who would come down within sight of 
the Union pickets near Hampton, and seize both 
Union men and negroes, conscripting the former, 
using the latter on their batteries. Major Wiu- 
throp, always on the alert, learned from a con- 
traband, George Scott by name, that the rebels 
had established themselves at two points between 
Yorktown and the fort, where they had tlirown 
up intrenchmcuts, and whence thoy nightly 
issued, seizing and plundering. George Scott 
described the localities with perfect correctness, 
and Winthrop himself, accompanied by George, 
repeatedly reconnoitered the road leading to 
them. On one point only was the negro guide 
mistaken : he thought the rebels were two thou- 
sand in number ; whereas, when he saw tiiem, 
five hundred was about their force. They had 
eleven or twelve hundred men in the two Beth- 
els ou the day of the action, but not more than 
five hundred took part in it; the rest having 
arrived, on a run, from Yorktown while the 
" battle" was proceeding, and, before they had 
recovered breath, it was over. 

Major Winthrop reported to General Butler, 
who resolved to attempt the capture of the two 
posts. His orders restricted him to advances of 



half a day's march. Great Bethel being nine 
miles distant, might be considered within the hmit. 
Now, aU was excitement and activity at head- 
quarters — no one so happy as Winliirop, who 
threw himself, heart and soul, into the affau*. 
Tlie first rough plan of the expedition, drawn up 
in his own hand lies before me; brief, hasty, 
colloquial, interlined ; resembling the first sketch 
of an "article "or a story; such as, doubtless, 
he had often dashed upon paper at Staten Island. 

PLAN OF ATTACK BT TWO DETACHMENTS UPON 
THE LITTLE BETHEL AND BIG BETHEL. 

A regiment or battalion to march from New- 
port News, and a regiment to march from Camp 
Hamilton — Buryee's. Each will be supported 
by sufficient reserves under arms in camp, and 
with advanced guards out on the road of march. 

Duryee to push out two pickets at 10 p. m. ; 
one two and a half miles beyond Hampton, ou 
the county road, but not so far as to alarm the 
enemy. This is important. Second picket half 
as far as the first. Both pickets to keep as much 
out of sight as possible. No one whatever 
to bo allowed to pass out through their hues. 
Persons to be allowed to pass inward toward 
Hampton — unless it appears that they intend to 
go roundabout and dodge through to the front. 

At 12, midnight. Colonel Duryee will march 
his regiment, with fifteen rounds cartridges, on 
the county road towards Little Bethel. Scows 
will be provided to ferry them across Hampton 
Creek. March to be rapid ; but not hurried. 

A howitzer with canister and shrapnel to go. 

A wagon with planks and material to repair 
the Newmarket Bridge. 

Duryee to have the 200 rifles. He will pick 
the men to whom to intrust them. 

Rocket to be thrown up from Newport News. 
Notify Commodore Pendergrast of this to prevent 
general alarm. 

Newport News movement to be made some- 
what later, as the distance is less. 

If we find the enemy and surprise them, men 
will fire one volley, if desirable ; 7iot reload, and 
go ahead with the bayonet. 

As the attack is to be by night, or dusk of 
morning, and in two detachments, our people 
should have some token, say a white rag (or a 
dirty white rag) ou the left arm. 

Perhaps the detachments who are to do the 
job should be smaller than a regiment, 300 or 500, 
as the right and left of the attack would be more 
easily handled. 

If we bag the Little Bethel men, push on to 
Big Bethel, and similarly bag them. Burn both 
the Bethels, or blow up if brick. 

To protect our rear in case wo take the field- 
pieces, and the enemy should march his main 
body (if he has any) to recover them, it would be 
well to have a squad of competent artillerists, 
regular or other, to handle tlie captured guns ou 
the retirement of our main body. Also spikes lo 
spike them, if retaken. 

George Scott to have a shooting-iron. 

Perhaps Duryee's men would be awkward with 
a new arm in a night or early dawn attack, 
where there will be little marksman duty to per- 
form. Most of the work will be done with the 
bayonet, and they are already handy with tho 
old ones. 



GREAT BETHEL. 



35 



"George Scott to have a shooting-iron !" So, 
the first suggestion of arming a black man in this 
war carao from Theodore Win.tlirop. George 
Scott, had a shooting-iron. 

This plan, the joint production of the general 
and his secretary, was substantially adopted, and 
orders in accordance therewith, were issued. 

The command of the expedition was given to 
Brigadier-General E. "W. P ierce, of Massachu- 
setts, a brave and good man, totally without 
military experience except upon parade-grounds 
on training days. General Butler, as we have 
before said, was his junior in the militia of 
Massachusetts, and had been selected by Gov- 
ernor Andrew to command the first brigade 
which left the state, over the head of General 
Pearce, who desired to go. It was by way of 
atonement to General Pierce for having taken 
the place which belonged by seniority to him, 
that General Butler assigned him to the com- 
mand. The motive was honorable to his feelings 
as a man. On Boston Common the act would 
have been highly becoming and quite unobjec- 
tionable. But, alas I the theater of action was 
not Boston Common. 

General Butler has an eye for the man he 
wants. This was the first time, and the last 
time, in his military career, that he has selected 
an of&cer for an independent command, for any 
other reason but a conviction that he was the 
best man at hand for the duty to be done. Gen- 
eral Pierce was a brave and good man ; re- 
puted then to be such ; since proved to be 
such; but he was not the best man at 
hand for the duty to be done. Out of a 
good citizen you can make a good soldier in 
four months; but a good ofiBcer is a creature 
slowly produced. Seven years in peace, one 
year in war, may do it, but he must have served 
an apprenticeship, before he is fit to be intrusted 
with the lives of men and the honor of a countr}-. 
The day before Bethel, General Butler had the 
brains of a general, the courage of a general, the 
toughness of a general, the technical knowledge 
of a genera! ; but to fit him for independent com- 
mand, he still needed some such harsh and bitter 
experience as now awaited him. The day after 
Bethel, he had made a- prodigious stride in liis 
military education, for he is a m.an who can take 
a hint. The whole secret of war was revealed 
in the flash and thunder, the disaster and shame, 
of that sorry skirmish. 

All went well until near the dawn of day, 
June 10th, when the forces were to form their 
junction near Little Bethel. There Colonel Ben- 
dix's regiment saw approaching over the crest of 
a low hill what seemed, in the magnifying dusk, 
a body of cavalry. It was Colonel Townsend's 
regiment which they saw. Knowing that Gen- 
eral Butler had no cavalry. Colonel Bendix con- 
cluded, of course, that they were a body of 
mounted rebels. The fatal order was given to 
fire, and ten of Colonel Townsend's men fell: 
two killed and eight wounded. The fire was re- 
turned in a desultory manner, without loss to 
the regiment of Colonel Bendix. Of the con- 
fusion that followed, the double-qiiick counter- 
marching, the alarm to friends and foes I need 
not speak. The dawn of day revealed the error, 
and then the question arose, whether to advance 
or to return to the fortress. A surprise was no 
longer possible, and the inhabitants of the coun- 



try concurred in stating the force of the enemy 
at four or five thousand, with formidable artil- 
lery. Colonel Durj'ee had already captured the 
picket at Little Bethel. The enemy, therefore, 
fully warned, must be concentrated at Great 
Bethel. Major Winthrop and Lieutenant But- 
ler, both of the commanding general's staff, united 
in most earnestly advising an advance, and 
General Pierce gave no reluctant assent. He 
had sent back for reinforcements which were 
soon on the march to join him. 

At half past nine, he had arrived within a 
mile of the enemy, with two regiments and four 
pieces of cannon of small caliber, one of which 
was the gun of Lieutenant Greble of the regular 
artillery. Two other regiments were approach- 
ing. The ground may be roughly described 
thus : An oblong piece of open country, sur- 
rounded on three sides by woods, General Pierce 
entering at the end where there was no wood. 
The enemj^'s position was near the upper end, 
but behind a strip of wood which concealed it. 
It was, in some slight degree, protected in front 
by a creek twelve feet wide and three deep. 
Their battery consisted oifour pieces of field ar- 
tillery, one of which becoming disabled through 
the disarrangement of the trigger-apparatus, was 
useless. The earthworks, hastily thrown up in 
front of the gims, added scarcely any strength to 
the position, for they were less than thrive feet 
high on the outside. A boy ten years old could 
have leaped over them ; a boy ten years old 
could have waded the creek. The breastworks 
were, in fact, so low that the wheels of the ene- 
my's guns were embedded in the earth, in order 
to get the carriages low enough to be protected. 
These facts I learn from a Union officer of high 
rank, who afterward, became familiar with the 
ground. Behind these trivial works were five 
hundred rebel troops, who were re-enforced 
while the action was going on with six hundred 
more from Torktown, thoroughly blown with 
running. This was the real strength of the ene- 
my, whom General Pierce firmly believed to 
consist of four or five thousand troops strongly 
posted, and well supplied with artillery. 

General Pierce and his command then stood 
at half-past nine, on the high road leading from 
Hampton to Yorktown, a mile from the enemy, 
whoso battery commanded the road. That bat- 
tery was so placed that it could have been ap- 
proached within fifty yards without the attack- 
ing party leaving the woods. Nor was there 
any serious obstacle to turning it either on the 
right or on the left. This not being immediately 
perceived, Colonel Duryee and Lieutenant Greble 
marched along the high road into the enemy's 
fire, and soon the cannon balls began to play 
over their heads, falling far to the rear. The 
men gave three cheers and kept on their w^ay. 
Soon, however, the enemy fired better, and some 
men were struck ; not many, for the total loss 
of Colonel Duryee's regiment that day was four 
killed, and twelve wounded. To these troops, 
in their inexperience, it seemed that work of 
this kind could not be down in the programme. 
They also received the impression tliat the en- 
emy's three pieces of cannon were thirty at least, 
and that, upon the whole, this was not the right 
road to the battery. So they sidled off into the 
woods, and there remained waiting for some one 
to tell them what to do next. Greble kept on 



36 



CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 



to a point three hundred yurda from the enemy, ' 
where he planted his gun, and maintained a 
steady and efleclivo lire upon them for an liour 
and a half. I say effective. It did not kill a 
rebel; but it had the eftcct of keeping them 
within their works, and giving them the idea 
that they were attacked. 

After Colonel Duryeo had retired to the wood.g, 
there was a long pause in the operations, during 
which a good plan was matured for turning the 
enemy's battery, and getting in behind it. It 
•was agreed that Colonel Townsend should keep 
well away to the loft, near the wood, or through 
the wood, and go on to the Yorktown road 
beyond the battery; then turn down upon it, 
and dash in. Colonel Duryee and Colonel 
Bondix were to march through the woods on 
the right, and penetrate to the same road below 
the battery, and then rush in upon it simulta- 
neously with Colonel Townsend. It was an 
excellent and most feasible scheme, certain of 
success if executed with merely tolerable vigor 
and resolution. Colonel Duryeo again advanced, 
this time through the woods. He went as far 
the creek, and concluding it to be impassable by 
his " Zouaves," retired a second time with some 
trifling loss ; Lieutenant-Colonel Warren, and a 
few brave men remaining long enough to bring 
away the body and the gun of poor Greble, shot 
by the enemy's last discharge. Meanwhile, 
Colonel Townsend was making his way far on 
the other side of the road. He was going 
straight to victory ; Major Wiuthrop among the 
foremost, fall of ardor and confidence, and the 
men in good heart. In five minutes more he 
would have gained a position upon the York- 
town road, beyond the battery, from which they 
could have marched upon the enemy, as in an 
open field. Then occurred a fatal mistake. In 
the haste of the start, two companies of the 
regiment had marched on the otlier side of a 
atone fence; and, anxious to get forward, were 
coming up to the front at some distance from the 
main body in the open field. Colonel Townsend 
seeing these troops, supposed that they were a 
body of the enemy coming out to attack him in 
flank. He ordered a halt, and then returned to 
the point of departure to meet this imaginary 
foe. Winthrop, as is supposed, did not hear the 
order to retire. With a few troops he still 
pressed on, and when they halted, still advanced, 
and reached a spot thirty yards from the enemy's 
battery. With one companion, private John M. 
Jones, of Vermont, he sprang upon a log to get 
a view of the position, which he alone that day 
clearly saw. A ball pierced his brain. Ho 
almost instantly breathed his last. His body 
being left on the field fell into the hands of the 
foe. In their opinion, he was the only man in 
the Union force who displayed "even an approx- 
imation to courage," and they gave his remains 
the honorable burial due to the body of a hero, 
and returned his watch and other effects to his 
commanding officer. 

General Pierce, with the advice of all the col- 
onels present, except Colonel Duryee, now gave 
the order to return to camp ; and so the " battle" 
of Great Bethel ended. Some of the companies 
retired in tolerable order. But there was a 
great deal of panic and precipitation, thougli the 
pursuit was late and languid. The noble Chap- 
lain Winslow and the brave Lieutenant-Colonel 



G. K Warren,* with a few other firm men, re- 
mained behind ; and, all exhausted as they were, 
drew the wounded in wagons nine miles, from 
the scene of the action to tlie nearest camp. 

The Union loss in killed and permanently 
disabled was twenty-five. The rebel loss, one 
man killed and three wounded. A few hours 
after the action. Great Bethel was evacuated. 
If General Pierce had withdrawn his men out of 
fire, and caused them to sit down and eat their 
dinner, it is highly probable the enemy would 
have retreated ; for they were greatly outnum- 
bered, and were perfectly aware that one regi- 
ment of steady and experienced troops, led by a 
man who knew his business, could have taken 
them all prisoners in twenty minutes. Por the 
most part, our men, I am assured, behaved as 
well as could have been expected. All they 
wanted was commanders who knew what was 
the right thing to do, and who would go forward 
and show them how to do it. One well-com- 
pacted, well-sustained rush from any point of 
approach, and the battery had been theirs. 

The day after Bethel was a sad one at Fortress 
Monroe. Lieutenant Greble's father was on his 
way to visit his son, and arrived only to take 
back his remains to his family, followed by the 
sorrow of the whole command. The fate of 
Winthrop was not yet known ; he was reported 
only among the "missing." Before leaving 
head-quarters he had borrowed a gun of the 
general, saying, gayly, " I may want to take a 
pop at them." In the course of the morning, 
this gun was brought in, with such information 
as led to the conclusion that he must have fallen ; 
perhaps, thrown his life purposely away. During 
his short residence at head-quarters he had en- 
deared himself to aU hearts ; to none more thaa 
to the general and Mrs. Butler. He was mourned 
as a brother by those who had known him but 
sixteen days. 

To the mother of his dead comrade, General 
Butler addressed the following letter : 

IIead-Qitaeteks, Department of Virginia, 
June 13th, 1S61. 

" My Dear Madam : — The newspapers have 
anticipated me in the sorrowful intelligence 
which I have to communicate. Your son Theo- 
dore is no more. He fell mortally wounded from 
a rifle shot, at County Bridge. I have conversed 
^\^th private John M. Jones, of the Northfield 
company in the Vermont regiment, wlio stood 
beside Major Winthrop when he fell, and sup- 
ported him in his arms. 

"Your son's death was in a few moments, 
without apparent anguish. After Major Win- 
throp had delivered the order witli which he was 
charged, to the commander of the regiment, he 
took his rifle, and while his guide held his horse 
in the woods in the rear, with too daring bravery, 
went to the front ; while there, stepping upon a 
log to get a full view of the force, he received 
the fatal shot. His friend. Colonel Wardrop, Oi 
Massachusetts, had loaned him a sword for the 
occasion, on which his name was marked in full, 
so that he was taken by the enemy for the colo- 
nel himself. 



* Since 'bricadier-seneral and chief of staff to General 
Meade— distinguished »n many fields, particularly at 
the battles in I'ennsylvauia iu June, ISOS. 



CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 



37 



" Major Wintbrop had advanced so close to 
the parapet, that it was not thought expedient 
by those in command to send ibrward any party 
to bring off the body, and thus endanger the 
lives of others in the attempt to secure his re- 
mains, as the rebels remorselessly fired upon all 
the small parties that wont forward for the pur- 
pose of bringing off their wounded comrades. 

" Had your gallant son been alive, I doubt not 
he would have advised this course in regard to 
another.' I have assurances from the officer in 
command of the rebel forces at County Bridge, 
that Major "Winthrop received at their hand a re- 
spectful and decent burial. 

" His personal effects found upon him, will be 
given up to my flag of truce, with the exception 
of his watch, which has been sent to Yorktown, 
and which I am assured will be returned through 
me to yourself. 

" I have given thus particularly these sad de- 
tails, because I know and have experienced the 
fond inquiries of a mother's heart respecting her 
son's acts. 

" My dear madam 1 although a stranger, my 
tears will flow with yours in grief for the loss of 
your brave and too gallant sou, my true friend 
and brother. 

" I had not known him long, but his soldierly 
qualities, his daring courage, his true-hearted 
friendship, his genuine sympathies, his cultivated 
mind, his high moral tone, all combined to so 
win me to him, that he had twined himself about 
my heart with the cords of a brother's love. 

" The very expedition which resulted so un- 
fortunately for him, made him all the more dear 
to me. Partly suggested by himself, he entered 
into the necessary preparations for it with such 
alacrity, cool judgment, and careful foresight, in 
all the details that might render it successful, as 
gave great promise of future usefulness in his 
chosen profession. "When, in answer to his re- 
quest to be permitted to go with it, I suggested 
to him that my correspondence was very heavy, 
and he would be needed at home, he playfully 
replied : general, we will all work extra hours, 
and make that up when we get back. The affair 
can't go on without me, you know.' Tlie last 
words I heard him say before his good-night, 
when we parted, were, ' If anything happens I 
have given my mother's address to Mr. Green. 
His last thoughts were with his mother; his 
last acts were for his country and her cause. 

"I have used the words ' unfortunate expedi- 
tion for him 1' Nay, not so ; too fortunate thus to 
die doing his duty, his whole duty, to his coun- 
try, as a hero, and a patriot. Unfortunate to us 
only who are lefl; to mourn the loss to ourselves 
and our country. 

" Permit me, madam, in the poor degree I may, 
to take such a place in your heart that we may 
mingle our griefs, as we do already our love and 
admiration for him who has only gone before us 
to that better world where, through the ' merits 
of Him who suffered for us,' we shall all meet 
together. 

" Most sincerely and affectionately, 

"Yours, Benj. F. Butler." 

I must not leave this melancholy subject with- 
out mentioning the noble, and, I believe, unique 
atonement made by General Pierce for whatever 
errors he may have committed at Great Bethel. 



He served out his term of three months in such 
extreme sorrow as almost to threaten his reason. 
He then enlisted as a private in a three year's 
regiment, and served for some time in that 
honorable lowliness. Appointed, at lengtli, to 
the command of a regiment, he served with dis- 
tinction through the campaign of the peninsula, 
where, in one of the battles, he was severely 
wounded. 

General Butler learnt the lesson first taught 
by the failure at Great Bethel, since repeated on 
so many disastrous fields. Tlwit lesson was, the 
utter insufficiency of the volunteer system as 
then organized, and the absolute necessity of offi- 
cers morally and professionally superior to the men 
under their command. The southern social sys- 
tem, at least, leads to the selection of officers to 
whom the men are accustomed to look up. Our 
officers, on the contrary, must have a real su- 
periority, both of knowledge and of character, in 
order to bind a regiment into coherency and 
force. General Butler had under his command 
captains, majors and colonels who owed their 
election chiefly to their ability to bestow un- 
hmited drinks. There were drunkards and 
thieves among them; to say nothing of those 
who, from mere ignorance and natural inefficiency, 
could maintain over their men no degree what- 
ever of moral or military ascendancy. The gen- 
eral saw the evil. In a letter to the secretary of 
war, June 26th, he pointed out the partial rem- 
edy which was afterward adopted. 

"I desire," he wrote, " to trouble you upon a 
subject of the last importance to the organization 
of our volunteer regiments. Many of the volun- 
teers, both two and three year's men, have cho- 
sen their own company officers, and in some 
cases their field officers, and they have been ap- 
pointed without any proper military examination, 
before a proper board, according to the plan of 
organization of the volunteers. There should be 
some means by which these officers can be sifted 
out. The efficiency and usefulness of the regi- 
ment depend upon it. To give you an illustra- 
tion : In one regiment I have had seven appli- 
cations for resignation, and seventeen applications 
for leave of absence ; some on the most frivolous 
pretexts, by every grade of officers under the 
colonel. I have yielded to many of these appli- 
cations, and more readily than I should other- 
wise have done, because I was convinced that 
their absence was of benefit rather than harm. 
Still, this absence is virtually a fraud upon the 
United States. It seems as if there must be some 
method other than a court-martial of ridding the 
service of these officers, when there are so many 
competent men ready, willing, and eager to serve 
their country. Ignorance and incompetency are 
not crimes to be tried by a court martial, while 
they are great misfortunes to an officer. As at 
present the whole matter of the organization is 
informal, without direct authority of law in its 
details, may not the matter be reached by having 
a board appointed at any given post, composed 
of three or five, to whom the competency, effi- 
ciency, and propriety of conduct of a given officer 
might be submitted? And that upon there- 
port of that board, approved by the commander 
and the department, the officer be dropped with- 
out the disgrace attending the sentence of a 
court-martial?" 

Meanwhile, the general labored most earnestly 



38 



CONSEQUENCES OF GREAT BETHEL. 



to raise the standard of discipline in the regi- 
ments. Tlie dilliculi}' was great, amounting, at 
times, to impossibility. At one time there were 
thirty-eight vacancies among the officers of the 
New York regiments alone. The men, accus- 
tomed to active industry, and now compelled to 
endure the monotony of a camp, sought excite- 
ment in drink. Jt was, for some weeks, a puzzle 
at head-quarters where the soldiers obtained 
Buch abundant supplies of the means of intox- 
ication. " Wo used," said General Butler, in his 
testimony before the war committee, '• to send a 
picket guard up a mile and a half from Fortress 
Monroe. The men would leave perfectly sober, 
yet every night when they came back we would 
have trouble with them on account of their being 
drunk. Where they got their liquor from we 
oould not tell. Night after night, we instituted 
a rigorous examination, but it was always the 
same. The men were examined over and over 
again ; their canteens were inspected, and yet 
we could find no hquor about them. At last it 
was observed that they seemed to hold their 
guns up very straight, and, upon examination 
being made, it was tound that every gun-barrel 
was filled with whisky ; and it was not always 
the soldiers who did this." 

Further investigation disclosed facts still more 
distressing. An eye-witness reports ; 

" General Butler ascertained that what was 
professedly the sutler's store of one of the regi- 
ments, was but a groggory. This he visited, and 
stove the heads of some half-dozen barrels, and 
spilled all the liquor of every sort to be found. 
He found a book, in which the account with a 
single regiment was kept, which disclosed a 
state of things truly startling. Scarcely an offi- 
cer of the regiment but had an open account, 
footing up for tlie single month, amounts ranging 
from $10 to $1,000. Tiie items charged, and 
the space of time within which the hquor was 
obtained, and, of course, consumed, was truly 
astonishing, and proved the depth of demoral- 
ization to which the officers, and, I fear, conse- 
quently, the entire regiment, had become redu- 
ced. I purposely suppress a narrative of the 
scenes of debaucliery and violence in the camp 
at Newport News, where the regiment has lately 
been removed, a few evenings since, resulting in 
the shooting, if not the death, of a soldier, fired 
on by an officer while both were intoxicated. 

" General BuLler having possessed himself of 
the book in question, went to Newport News 
yesterday afternoon, having previously summoned 
all the commissioned officers of the regiment to 
meet him alone on the boat on his arrival. They 
came as summoned. General Butler told them 
frankly and pointedly what was the oljject of the 
meeting ; exhibited to them the evidence that 
was in his hands of the astonishing amounts of 
liquor which they as officers had purchased ; 
pointed them to tlie consequences as seen in the 
demoralized condition of the regiments; the late 
scenes of violenco, the waste of money, the in- 
justice of such conduct toward New York, after 
she had been to the expense of giving them a 
liberal outtit, and, with a princely liberality, was 
supporting so many of the families of soldiers 
and others ; and, more than all, the deplorable 
consequences that must ensue to the cause from 
such indulgence. General Butler said there must 
and should be a stop put to it. He said he 



himself was not a total-abstinence man, but he 
pledged to the officers he addressed his word of 
honor as an officer and a man that, so long as 
he remained in this department, intoxicating 
drinks should be banished from his quarters, and 
that he would not use them except when medi- 
cinally prescribed ; and he wanted the officers 
present to give him their pledge that henceforth 
this should be the rule of their conduct. As he 
had determined to tell no man to go, where he 
could not say come, so, in this matter, ho re- 
quired no officer to do that which he would not 
first do himself General Butler enforced his 
views and the grounds of the determination he 
had formed, feelingly and forcibly, and the 
affirmative response was unanimous, with only 
one exception, he being a captain, whose resig- 
nation Colonel Phelps announced was then in 
his hands, and which General Butler instantly 
accepted. 

" This interview over, General Butler directed 
Captain Davis, the provost- marshal, and his dep- 
uty, W. II. Wiegel, to proceed to search every 
place known to sell liquor, or suspected of being 
engaged in the traffic, and destroy the same. 
Within one hour between twenty and thirty 
barrels of whisky, brandy, and other concoctions 
were emptied on the ground, amid the clieers of 
the soldiers. The proceeding elicited the warm- 
est approbation of the whole camp, and especially 
of the men, who, as patrons of the sutlers, had 
been swindled by them. The sutlers themselves, 
and all others guilty of having contributed to 
demoralize the troops, were taken into custody 
and brought to the fortress, and will be sent 
hence." 

The whisky at Fortress Monroe inspired one 
piece of wit, which amused the command. This 
was the time wlien it was customary to " admin- 
ister the oath" to arrested secessionists, and set 
them at liberty. A scouting party having brought 
in a rattlesnake, the question arose what should 
be done with it. A drunken soldier hiccoughed 
out : " d — n him, swear him in and let him go." 

With equal vigor. General Butler made war 
upon a practice which no commanding officer 
has ever been able entirely to suppress, that of 
plundering abandoned houses. The possession 
of a chair, a table, a piece of carpet, an old kettle, 
or even a piece of plank, adds so mucli to the 
comfort of men in camp, that the temptation to 
help themselves to such articles is sometimes 
irrdsistiblo. If any man could have prevented 
plundering, Wellington was that individual; but 
ho could not, though he possessed and used the 
power to hang offenders on the spot. Subse- 
quent investigation proved that our troops around 
Fortress Monroe plundered little, considering their 
opportunities and their temptation. But that 
little was disgraceful enough, and gave rise to 
much clamor. All that any man could have 
done to prevent and punish offenses of this 
nature was done by the commanding general. 
No man abhorred plundering more than Colonel 
Phelps; but he could not quite prevent it. 
Coming in to dinner one day, he saw upon the 
table a porcelain dish Idled with green peas. 
He stood for a moment with eyes tixed upon the 
suspicious vessel, wrath gathering in his face. 

"Take that dish away," said he in a tone of 
fierce command for so gentle a man. 

The alarmed contraband prepared to obey, but 



EECALL FROM VIRGINIA. 



39 



ventured to ask what he should do with the 
peas. 

" Put them into a wash-basin, if you can't find 
anything better. But take that dish away and 
never let, me see it again." 

The dish was removed, and Colonel Phelps 
ordered it to be taken to the hospital for the use 
of the sick. 

One truth became very clear to General Butler 
while he held command in Virginia. It was, 
that men enlisted for short terms cannot as a 
rule, be relied upon for effective service. When 
the time of the three montlis men was half 
expired, all other feelings seemed to be merged 
in the longing for release. Like boys at school 
before the holidays, they would cut notches in a 
stick and erase one every day ; and, as the time 
of return home drew nearer, they would cut half 
a notch away at noon. It appeared that short- 
termed troops are efficient for not more than 
half their time of enlistment ; after that their 
hearts are at home, not in their duty. The gen- 
eral was of opinion, that an army, if possible, 
should be enlisted not for any definite term, but 
for the war; thus supplying the men with a 
most powerful motive for efficient action; the 
homeward path lying through victory over the 
enemy. 

The battle of Bull Run ended General Butler's 
hopes of being useful at Fortress Monroe. It 
was on the very day of that battle that he first 
received the means of moving a battery of field 
artillery, and of completmg his preparations for 
sweeping clear of armed rebels the Virginia 
tip of the peninsula, of which Maryland forms 
the greater part. Colonel Baker was to com- 
mand the expedition. Two daj'S after the 
retreat came a telegram from General Scott: 
" Send to this place without fail, in three days, 
four regiments and a half of long-term volunteers, 
including Baker's regiment and a half" The 
troops were sent, and the expedition was neces- 
sarily abandoned. 

The news of the great defeat created at the 
fortress a degree of consternation almost amount- 
ing to panic ; for, at once, the rumor spread that 
the victorious army were about to descend upon 
the fortress, and overwhelm it. General Butler 
was not alarmed at this new phantom. One of 
the first cheering voices that reached the admin- 
istration was his. A few hours after reading the 
news, he wrote to his friend, the postmaster- 
general : 

" We have heard the sad news from Manassas, 
but are neither dismayed or disheartened. It 
will have the same good effect upon the army in 
general that Big Betliel has had in my division, 
to teach us whereui we are weak and they are 
strong, and how to apply the remedy to our 
deficiencies. Let not tiie administration be dis- 
heartened or discouraged. Let no compromises 
be made, or wavering be felt. God helping, we 
will go through to ultimate assured success. But 
let us have no more of the silk glove in carrying 
on this war. Let these men be considered, what 
they have made themselves ' our enemies,' and 
let their property of all kinds, whenever it can 
be useful to us, be taken on the land where they 
have it, as they take ours upon the sea where 
we have it. There seems to me now but one of 
two ways, either to make an advance from this 
place with a sufficient foi ■.'.•, or else, leaving a 



simple garrison here, to send six thousand men 
that might bo spared on the other line; or, still 
another, to make a descent upon the southern 
coast. I am ready and desirous to move forward 
in either." 

In another part of this letter he strongly recom- 
mends Colonel Phelps for promotion. "Although 
some of the regular officers will, when applied 
to, say that he is not in his right mind — the only 
evidence that I have seen of it, is a deep religious 
enthusiasm upon the subject of slavery, which, 
in my judgment, does not unfit him to fight the 
battles of the North. As I never had seen him 
until he came here, as he differs witli me in 
politics, I have no interest in the recommen- 
dation, save a deliberate judgment for the good 
of the cause after two months of trial." Ho had 
soon after the pleasure of handing to Colonel 
Phelps the shoulder straps of a brigadier-gen- 
eral. 

"I am as much obliged to you, general," said 
he, "as though you had done me a favor." 

The withdrawal of so large a number of his 
best troops, compelled the evacuation of Hamp- 
ton. He was even advised, and that, too, by a 
member of the cabinet, as well as by many 
officers high in rank at the post, to abandon 
Newport News; but he would not let go his 
hold upon a point so important to the future 
movement which he had advised. 

The evacuation of Hampton left homeless 
upon his hand several hundreds of contrabands. 
Again he urged the government to adopt a de- 
cisive policy with regard to the negroes, and to 
take measures for depriving the rebels of their 
slaves, by whose labor they were supported. 
But the government was not prepared to adopt 
the system proposed. 

The southern people, it is worth remarking, 
had already shown their sense of General But- 
ler's services to his country. They knew their 
enemy. It has been their cue to compliment 
some of the generals conspicuous in the service 
of the United States ; but for him who first 
established the rule of employing the courtesies 
which mitigate the horrors of war, they have 
only vituperation. They were riglit in their 
instinctive perceptions, for he was also the first 
to recognize them as enemies incurable, whose 
destruction as a power was essential to the re- 
storation of the country. Few readers can have 
forgotten the biography of General Eutler which 
circulated in southern cf vvspaperf. in these 
months. It ran thus ; 

" He is the son of a nef.rc barber, who, early 
in the century did businjs'i on Pcydras street, 
in New Orleans. The ton, in early manhood, 
emigrated to Liberia, where an indisposition for 
labor and some talent turned his attention to 
the bar, to prepare for which he repaired to 
Massachusetts. Having mastered his profession, 
he acquired a fondness for theological studies, 
and became an active local preacher, the courso 
of his labors early leading him to New York, 
where he attracted the notice of Mr. Jacob 
Barker, then in the zenith of his fame a? a finan- 
cier, and who, discovering the peculiai' abilities 
in that direction of the young mulatto, .sent him 
to northern New York to manage a banking 
institution. There he divided his time between 
the counting-house and the court-i'ojm, the 
prayer-meeti-ig and the printing-office," etc. 



40 



HATTERAS. 



This, witli a variety of comments, was the 
southern response to Annapolis and Baltimore. 

The North seemed slower to recognize his 
services. After tlie withdrawal of the (bur regi- 
ments, he found himself in a false position at 
Fortress Monroe, inca])ablo of acting, yet ex- 
pected by llio country to act. His embarrass- 
ment was not diminished by discovering that 
the intention to remove his troops was known 
and published before the battle of Bull Run, and 
that they were still detained at Baltimore inac- 
tive. 

" As soon," he wrote to Colonel Baker, " as I 
began to look like activity, my troops are all 
taken away. And almost my only friend and 
counselor, on whose advice I could rely, is taken 
away by name * * * * What 
ought I to do under these circumstances? I 
ought not to stay here and be thus abused. Tell 
me as a true friend,' as I know you are, what 
ought to be done in justice to myself To resign, 
when the country needs service, is unpatriotic. 
To hold office which government believes me 
unfit for, is humiliating. To remain here, dis- 
graced and thwarted by every subordinate who 
is sustained by the head of the department, is 
unbearable." 

The government resolved his doubts. A day 
or two after the reply to General Butler's con- 
traband letter had been dispatched, he was re- 
moved from the command of the department, 
and General Wool appointed in his stead. 
Whether tho two acts had any connection, or 
whether the removal was a compliance with the 
suggestions of a leading newspaper, has not 
been disclosed. "General Wool," commented 
the New York Times, " is assigned the command 
of Fortress Monroe. So far, so good. The 
nation was deeply dissatisfied, not to say indig- 
nant, at tho fact that one of the bravest, as well 
as one of the most skillful and experienced of 
American generals, was persistently kept in 
quiet retreat at Troy, N. Y., while political 
brigadiers were fretting away tho spirit of tho 
army by awkward blunderings upon masked 
batteries." There had, indeed, been much 
clamor of this kind, and worse. One gallant 
colonel, removed from his command for drunk- 
enness, had caused letters to be published, accu- 
sing General Butler of disloyalty. Otlier officers, 
who had left the service for the service's good, 
■were not silent, and one or two reporters, who 
had been ordered away from the post, still had 
the use of their pens. Nor had tho public tho 
means of understanding tho causes of General 
Butler's inactivity. They saw the most im- 
portant military post in tho possession of tlie 
United States, apparently well-supplied with 
troops, contributing notliing to the military 
strength of the country. Tho blame was nat- 
urally laid at the door of the general command- 
ing it. 

On the eighteenth of August, General Butler 
gracefully resigned the command of the depart- 
ment to his successor. In his farewell order he 
said : " Tho general takes leave of the command 
of the oificers and soldiers of this department 
with the kindest feelings towards all, and with 
the hope that in active service upon the field, 
they may soon signalize their bravery and gal- 
lant conduct, as they have shown their patriot- 
ism by fortitude under the fatigues of camp duty. 



No personal feeling of regret intrudes itself at 
the change in the command of tho department, 
by which our cause acquires the services in the 
field of the veteran general conmianding, in 
whose abilities, experience, and devotion to the 
flag, the whole country places tho most implicit 
reliance, and under whose guidance and com- 
mand all of us, and none more than your late 
commander, are proud to serve." 

He had been in command of the department 
of Virginia two months and twenty-seven days. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The order which relieved General Butler from 
command in Virginia a.ssigned him to no other 
duly. He was simply ordered to resign his com- 
mand to General Wool. Whether he was to re- 
main at tho fortress, or repair to head-quarters, 
or go home, was left to conjecture. What should 
he do? Where should he go? Friends unanimous- 
ly advised : ' Go home. The government plainly 
intimates that it does not want you.' The game 
is lost; throw up your hand. "No," said he, 
" whatever I do, I can't go home. That were 
the eud of my military career, and I am in for 
tlie war." It ended in his asking General Wool 
for something to do; and General Wool, who 
could not but see what efficient service he had 
rendered at the post, and heartily ackno^^ledged 
it, gave him the command of the volunteer troops 
outside the fortress. So he vacated the mansion 
within the walls, aad served where he had been 
wont to rule. 

A week after, the expedition to reduce the 
forts at Hatteras Inlet was on the point of sail- 
ing. It was a scheme of the general's own. A 
Union prisoner being detained at the inlet, had 
brought the requsito information to the fortress 
many weeks before. He said, that through that 
gap in the long sand-island which runs along the 
coast, of North Carolina, numberless blockade 
runners found access to the main land. His re- 
port being duly conveyed to head-quarters, a 
joint expedition, military and naval, was ordered 
to take tho forts, destroy them, block up the in- 
let with sunken stone, and return to Fortress 
Monroe. Preparations for this expedition were 
at full tide when General Butler was superseded. 
Nine hundred troops were detailed to accompany 
it; a small corps for a major-general. General 
Butler volunteered to command them, and Gen- 
eral Wool accepted his olTer ; kind friends whis- 
pering, " infra dig." 

Ho went. Every one remembers the details 
of that first cheering success after the summer of 
our discontent. It seemed to break the spell of 
disaster, and gave encouragement to the country, 
disproportioned to the magnitude of the achieve- 
ment. General Butler enjoyed a share of the 
eclat, which restored much of the public favor 
lost at Great Bethel. 

Two points of the general's conduct on this 
occasion, wo may notice before passing on to 
more stirring scenes. Tlie reader has not for- 
gotten, that the rebel commander first offered to 
surrender, provided the garrison were allowed to 
retire, and that General Butler refused the terms, 



RECRUITING FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 



41 



demanding unconditional surrender. " The Ade- 
laide," he reports, "on carrying in the troops, at 
the moment my termsof capitulation were under 
consideration by the enemy, had grounded upon 
the bar. * * At the same time, the Harriet 
Lane, in attempting to enter the barhad grounded, 
and remained fast ; both were under the guns of 
the fort. By these accidents, a valuable ship of 
war, and a transport steamer, with a large por- 
tion of my troops, were within the power of the 
enemy. I had demanded the strongest terms, 
which he was considering. He might refuse, 
and seeing our disadvantage, renew the action. 
But I determined to abate not a tittle of what I 
considered to be due to the dignity of the gov- 
ernment ; nor even to give an official title to the 
ofiScer in command of the rebels. Besides, m}' 
tug was in the inlet, and, at least, I could carry 
on the engagement with my two rifled six-pound- 
ers, well supplied with Sawyer's shell." It was 
an anxious moment, but his terms were accepted, 
and the victory was complete. 

One of the guns of the Minnesota was worked 
during the action by contrabands from Fortress 
Monroe. The danger was slight, for the ene- 
my's balls fell short. But it was observed .''nd 
freely acknowledged on all hands, that no gun in 
the fleet was more steadily served than theirs, 
and no men more composed than they when the 
danger was supposed to be imminent. In action 
and out of action their conduct was everything 
that could be desired. 

The other matter which demands a word of 
explanation, relates to General Butler's sudden re- 
turn from Hatteras, which elicited sundry satirical 
remarks at the time. He had been ordered not 
to hold but to destroy the port. But on survey- 
ing the position, he was so much impressed with 
the importance of retaining it, that he resolved 
to go instantly to "Washington and explain his 
views to the government. He did so, and the 
governmont determined to hold the place. Nor 
was haste unnecessary, since supplies had been 
brought for only five days. The troops must 
have been immediately withdrawn or immedi- 
ately provisioned. 

And now again he was without a command. 
The government did not know what to do with 
him, and he did not know what to do with him- 
self Recruiting was generally at a stand still, 
and there were no troops in the field that had 
not their full allowance of major-generals. West 
Point influence was in the ascendant, as surely it 
ought to be in time of war ; and this lawyer in 
epaulets seemed to be rather in the way than 
otherwise. 



CHAPTER VII. 

EECRUITIXG FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 

G-ENERAL Butler now recalled the attention 
of the government to his scheme for expelling 
rebel forces from the Virginia peninsula, which 
had been suspended by the sudden transfer of 
Colonel Baker and his command from Fortress 
Monroe. He obtained authority from the war 
department to recruit troops in Massachusetts 
for this purpose. Recruiting seemed to be pro- 
ceeding somewhat languidly in the state, although 



her quota was yet far from full ; and it was sup- 
posed, that General Biitler could strike a vein 
of hunker democrats which would yield good 
results. Not that hunker democrats had been 
backward in enlisting; but it was thought that 
many of them who still hesitated would rally to 
the standard of one who had so often led them 
in the mimic war of elections. On going home, 
however, he found that General Sherman was 
before him in special recruiting, and that to him 
Governor Andrew had promised the first regi- 
ments that should be completed. He hastened back 
to Washington. He had been engaged to speak 
in Faueuil Hall, but left a note of excuse, ending 
with these words : " That I go for a vigorous 
prosecution of the war is best shown by the fact 
that I am gone." At Washington, a ciiange of 
programme. He penned an order, dated Sept. 
10th, enlarging his sphere of operations to all 
New England, which the secretary of war signed. 
To make assurance doubly sure, he asked the 
additional sanction of the president's signature. 
The cautious president, always punctiliously 
respectful to state authority, first procured by 
telegraph the assent of all the governors of New 
England, and then signed the order. 

It was upon General Butler's return to New 
England to raise these troops, that the collision 
occurred between himself and the governor of 
Massachusetts, which caused so much perjjlexity 
to all the parties concerned. 

Let us draw a veil over these painful scenes. 
A quarrel is divided into two parts. Part first 
embraces all that is said and done while both 
parties keep their temper ; part second, all that 
is said and done after one or both of the parties 
lose it. The first part may be interesting, and 
even important : the second is sound and fury, 
signifying nothing. Governor Andrew felt that 
General Butler was interfering with his prerog- 
ative. General Butler, intent on the work in 
hand, was exasperated at the obstacles thrown 
in his way by Governor Andrew. General 
Butler, who had had bitter experience of sub- 
altern incompetency, was anxious to secure 
commissions to men in whom he could confida 
Governor Andrew naturally desired to give com- 
missions to men in whose fitness he could himself 
believe. General Butler's friends were chiefly of 
the hunker persuasion ; Governor Andrew was 
better acquainted with gentlemen of his own 
party. Both were honest and zealous servants 
of their countrj\ Long may both of them live 
to serve and honor it. 

The six thousand troops were raised. But the 
delay in Massachusetts deprived General Butler 
of the execution of his peninsula scheme, which 
fell to the lot of General Dix, who well per- 
formed it in November. So General Butler went 
to Washington to learn what he was to do with 
his troops, now that he had them. 

For many months the government had been 
silently preparing for the recovery of the southern 
strongholds, which had been seized at the out- 
break of the war, while the last administration 
was holding parley with treason at the capital 
Commodore Porter was busy at the Booklyn 
Navy Yard with his fleet of bomb-boats. The 
navy had been otherwise strengthened, though 
the day of iron-clads had not yet dawned in 
Hampton Roads. Immense provision had been 
ordered of the cumbrous material used in sieges. 



42 



RECRUITING- FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 



But as yet, pr-^purationa only had been made ; 
the points lirst to be attempted had not been 
selected ; the cliicf attention of the government 
being still directed to tiie increase and organi- 
zation of the army of the Potomac, held at 
bay by the phantom of two hundred thousand 
rebels, and endless imaginary masked batteries 
at Manassas. The arrival of General Butler at 
Washington recalled the consideration of the 
government to more distant enterprises. 

Mobile was then the favorite object, both at 
the hoad-quarters of the army and at the navy 
department; and General Butler was directed 
to report upon the best rendezvous for an expe- 
dition against Mobile. Maps, charts, gazetteers, 
encyclopedias, and sea captains were zealously 
overhauled. In <"» day or two, the general was 
ready witli his report, which named Ship Island 
as the proper rendezvous for operations against 
any point upon the gulf coast. Ship Island it 
should be then. To Now England the general 
quickly returned, and started a regiment or two 
for the rendezvous under General Phelps, whose 
services he had especially asked. Then to 
"Washington once more, where he found that 
Mobile was not in high favor with the ruling 
member of the cabinet, who thought Texas a 
more immediately important object. It was 
natural that he should so regard it, as he was 
compelled by his oCSce to look at the war in the 
light shed from foreign correspondence. General 
Butler was now ordered to prepare a paper 
upon Texas, and the best mode of reannexing it. 
Nothing loath, ho rushed again at the maps and 
gazetteers, collaring stray Galvestonians by the 
way. An elaborate paper upon Texas was the 
prompt result of his labors, a production justly 
complimented by General McClcllan for its lucid 
completeness. Texas was in the ascendant. 
Texas should be reannexed; the French kept 
out; th(» German cotton planters delivei'ed; the 
rebels quelled ; the blockading squadron released. 
Homeward sped the General to get more of his 
troops on llie way. The Constitution, which had 
conveyed General Phelps to Ship Island and 
returned, was again loaded with troops. Two 
thousand men were embarked, and the ship was 
on the point of sailing, when a telegram from 
Washington arrived of singular brevity: 

"Don't Sail. Disembark." 

No explanation followed ,• nor did General 
Butler wait long for one. The next day he was 
in Washington, in quest of elucidation. The ex- 
planation was Jmple. .Mason, and Slidell were 
in Fort Warren ; England had demanded their 
surrender ; war with England was possible, not 
improbable. If war were the issue, the Consti- 
tution would be required, not to convey troops 
to Ship Island, but to bring back tliose alreadj^ 
there. 

Nothing remained for General Butler but to 
return home, and wait till the question was 
decided. Ho wont, but not until he had avowed 
his entire conviction that justice and policy 
united in demanding that the rebel emissaries 
should be retained. Ho thought that New 
England alone, drained as she was of men, would 
follow him to Canada, that winter, with fifty 
thousand troops, and seize the commanding 
points before the April sun had let in the Eng- 
lish navy. The country, he thought, was not 
half awake — had not put forth half its strength. 



He felt that in such a quarrel, America would do 
as Greece had done when Xerxes led his myriads 
against her — every man a soldier, and every 
soldier a hero. Ho did not despair of seeing, 
first the border states, and then the gulf states, 
fired with the old animosity, and joining against 
the hereditary foe. Knowing what England had 
done in the way of violating the flag of neutrals, 
he regarded her conduct in this affair as the very 
sublime of impudence. He boiled with indig- 
nation whenever he thought of it, and bethought 
of little else during those memorable weeks. 

Fortunately, as most of us think, other counsels 
prevailed at Washington, and a blow was struck 
at the rebellion, by the surrender of the men, of 
more eft'ect than the winning of a great battle. 
The restoration of the Union will itself avenge 
the wrong, and cut deeper into the power that 
has miskd England than the loss of many 
Canadas. 

Mason and Slidell were given up. The troops 
sailed for Fortress Monroe. General Butler, 
early in January, 1862, went to Washington to 
conclude the last arrangements, intending to join 
his command in Hampton Roads. At the war 
department mere confusion reigned, for this was 
the time when Mr. Cameron was going out, and 
Mr. Stanton coming in. Nothing could be done; 
the troops remained at Fortress Monroe; the 
general was lost to finite view in the mazes of 
Washington. 

We catch a brief glimpse of him, however, 
testifying before the committee on the conduct 
of the war. No reader can have forgotten that 
the question then agitating the country was, 
why General McClellan, with his army of two 
hundred thousand men, had remained inactive 
for so many months, permitting the blockade of 
the Potomac, and allowing the superb weather 
of November and December to pass unimproved 
into the mud and cold of January. The estab- 
lished opinion at head-quarters was, that the 
rebel army before Washington numbered about 
two hundred and forty thousand men. Upon 
this point General Butler, from much study of 
the various sources of information, had arrived 
at an opinion which differed from the one in 
vogue, and this he communicated to the com- 
mittee ; and not the opinion only, but the grounds 
of the opinion. He presented an argument on 
the subject, having thoroughly got up the case 
as ho had been wont to do for gentlemen of the 
jury. Subjecting General Beauregard's report of 
the two actions near Manassas to a minute anal- 
ysis, ho showed that the rebel army at the battle 
of Bull Run numbered 36,600 men. He cross- 
examined those reports, counting first by regi- 
ments, secondly by brigades, and found the re- 
sults of both calculations the same. Ho then 
computed the quotas of the various rebel states, 
and concluded that tlie entire Confederate force 
on the day of the battle of Bull Run was about 
54,000. He next considered tlie increase to the 
rebel armies since the battle of Bull Run. We, 
with our greatly sup.rior moans of transport- 
ation, with our greater population, and the 
command of the ocean, had been able, by the 
most strenuous exertions, to assemble an army 
before Washington of little more than 200,000. 
Could the rebels have got together half that 
number in the same time ? It was not probable, 
it was scarcely p.i-.sibk\ Then the extent of 



s^ 



RECRUITINa FOR SPECIAL SERVICE. 



43 



country held by the rebel army was known, and 
forbade the supposition entertained at head- 
quarters. Upon the whole, he concluded that 
the armies menacing Washington consisted of 
about 70,000 men ; which proved to be within 
5,000 of the truth. 

This opinion was vigorously pooh-poohed in 
in the higher circles of the army, but leading 
members of the committee were evidently con- 
vinced by it. One officer of high rank, a fre- 
quenter of the • office of the genoral-in-chief, 
was good enough to say, when General Butler 
had finally departed, that he hoped they had now 
found a hole big enough to bury that Yankee 
general in. 

During the delay caused by the change in the 
department of war, an almost incredible incident 
occurred, which strikingly illustrates the confu- 
sion sometimes arising from having three centers 
of military authoritj^ — the president, the secre- 
tary of war, and the commander-in-chief. By 
mere accident General Butler heard one day that 
his troops had been sent, two weeks before, 
from Fortress Monroe to Port Royal. "What!" 
he exclaimed, " have I been played with all this 
time ?" He discovered, upon inquiry, that such 
an order had indeed been issued. He procured 
an interview with Mr. Stanton, gave him a his- 
tory of his proceedings, and asked an explana- 
tion of the order. Mr. Stanton knew nothing 
about it ; Mr. Cameron knew nothing about it ; 
General McClellan knew nothing about it. Never- 
theless, the order in question had really been 
sent. Mr. Stanton readily agreed to counter- 
mand the order, provided the troops had not 
already departed. The general hurried to the 
telegraph office, where, under a rapid tire of 
messages, a still more wonderful fact was disclo- 
sed. The mysterious order had been received in 
Baltimore by one of General Dix's aids, who 
had put it into his pocket, forgotten it, and carried 
it about with him two weeks ! From the depths 
of his pocket it was finally brought to light. 
The troops were still at the fortress. 

Mr. Stanton .soon made himself felt in the 
dispatch of business. General Butler obtained 
an ample hearing, and the threads of his enter- 
prize were again taken up. One day (about Jan- 
uary 10th), towards the close of a long confer- 
ence between the general and the secretary, Mr. 
Stanton suddenly asked : 

"Why can't New Orleans be taken?" 

The question thrilled General Butler to the 
marrow. 

"It can!" he replied. 

This was the first time New Orleans had been 
mentioned in General Butler's hearing, but by 
no means the first time he had thought of it. 
The secretary told him to prepare a programme ; 
and for the third time the general dashed at the 
charts and books. General McClellan, too, was 
requested to present an opinion upon the feasi- 
bility of the enterprise. He reported that the 
capture of New Orleans would require an army 
of 50,000 men, and no such number could be 
spared. Even Texas, he thought, should be 
given up for the present. 

But now General Butler, fired with the^ splen- 
dor and daring of the new project, exerted all 
the forces of his nature to win for it the consent 
of the government. He talked New Orleans to 
every member of the cabinet. In a protracted 



interview with the president, he argued, he 
urged, he entreated, he convinced. Nobly were 
his efforts seconded by Mr. Fox, the assistant 
secretary of the navy, a native of Lowell, a 
schoolmate of General Butler's. His whole 
heart was in the scheme. The president spoke, 
at length, the decisive word, and the general . 
almost reeled from the White Houso in the in- 
toxication of his relief and joy. One difficulty 
still remained, and that was the tight clutch of 
General McClellan upon the troops. At Ship 
Island there were 2,000 men ; on ship-board 
2,200; ready in New England, 8,500; total, 
12,700. General Butler demanded a total of 
15,000. As the general-in-chief would not hear 
of sparing men from Washington, three of the 
Baltimore regiments were assigned to the expe- 
dition ; and these were the only ones in General 
Butler's division which could be called drilled. 
Not one of his regiments had been in action. 

About January 23d, the last impediment was 
removed, and General Butler went home, for the 
last time, to superintend the embarkation of the 
rest of the New England troops. The troops 
detained so long at Fortress Monroe, were 
hurried on board the Constitution, and started 
for Ship Island. Other transports were rapidly 
procured; other regiments dispatched. A month 
later. General Butler was again in Washington 
to receive the final orders ; the huge steamship 
Mississippi, loaded with his last troops, lying in 
Hampton Roads, waiting only for his coming to 
put to sea. It may interest some readers to 
know, that the total cost of raising the troops 
and starting them on their voyage, was about a 
million and a half of dollars. 

It was not without apprehensions that General 
Butler approached the capital on this occasion — 
there had been so many changes of programme. 
But all the departments smiled propitiously, 
and the final arrangements were soon comi^leted. 
A professional spy, who had practiced his voca- 
tion in Virginia too long for him to venture 
again within the enemy's lines with much chance 
of getting out again, was on his way to New 
Orleans, having agreed to meet the general at 
Ship Island with a full account of the state of 
affairs in the crescent city. A thousand dollars 
if he succeeds. The department of the gulf 
was created, and General Butler formally placed 
in command of the same. The following were 
the orders of the commander-in-chief 

"Head-Quarters of the Abmy, 
'' February 'iM, 1862. 

" Major-General B. F. Butler, United States 

Army: 

" General : — Tou are assigned to the com- 
mand of the land forces destined to co-operate 
with the navy in the attack upon New Orleans. 
You will use every means to keep the destina- 
tion a profound secret, even from your staff 
officers, with the exception of your chief of 
staff, and Lieutenant Wietzel, of the engineers. 

" The force at your disposal will consist of the 
first thirteen regiments named in your memo- 
randum handed to me in person, the Twenty- 
first Indiana, Fourth Wisconsin, and Sixth 
Michigan (old and good regiments from Balti- 
more) — these three regiments will await your 
orders at Fort Monros. Two companies of the 
Twenty-first Indiana are well drilled at heavy 






44 



SHIP ISLAND. 



artillery. The cavalry force already en route for 
Ship Islnnd, will be sufiBcient for your purposes. 
After full consultation with officers well ac- 
quainted with the countr}' in which it is proposed 
to operate, I have arrived at the conclusion 
that three liirht batteries fully equipped and one 
without horses, will be all that will be neccs- 
eary. 

" This will make your force about 14,400 
infantry, 275 cavalry, 580 artillery, total 15,255 
men. 

"The commanding general of the department 
of Key West is authorized to loan you, tempo- 
rarily, two regiments ; Fort Pickens can pro- 
bably tjive you another, which will bring your 
force to nearly 18,000. The object of your 
expedition is one of vital importance — the cap- 
ture of New Orleans. The route selected is up 
the Mississippi river, and the first obstacle to be 
encountered, perhaps the only one, is in the 
resistance offered by Forts St. Philip and Jack- 
son. It is expected that the navy can reduce 
the works ; in that case, you will, after their 
capture, leave a sufficient garrison in them to 
render them perfectly secure; and is recom- 
mended that on the upward passajje a few heavy 
guns and some troops be left at the pilot station, 
at the forks of the river, to cover a retreat in the 
case of a disaster, the troops and guns will of 
course be removed as soon as the forts are 
captured. 

" Should the navy fail to reduce the works, 
you will land your forces and siege train, and 
endeavor to breach the works, silence their fire, 
and carry them by assault. 

" The next resistance will be near the English 
Bend, where there are some earthen batteries ; 
here it may be necessary for you to land your 
troops, to co-operate with the naval attack, 
although it is more than probable that the navy, 
unassisted, can accomplish the result. If these 
works are taken, the city of New Orleans neces- 
sary faUs. 

" In that event it will probably be best to 
occupy Algiers with the mass of your toops, 
also the eastern bank of the river above the 
city — it may be necessary to place some troops 
in the city to preserve order; though if there 
appears sufficient Union sentiment to control 
the city, it may bo best for purposes of discipline 
to keep your men out of the city. 

" After obtaining possession of New Orleans, 
it will be necessary to reduce all the works 
guarding its approaches from the east, and par- 
ticularly to gain the Manchac Pass. 

" Baton Rouge, Berwick Bay, and Fort Liv- 
ingston will next claim your attention. 

" A feint on Galveston may facilitate the 
objects wo have in view. I need not call your 
attention to the necessity of gaining possession 
of all the rolling stock you can, on the different 
railways, and of obtaining control of the roads 
themselves. The occupation of Baton Rouge, 
by a combined naval and land force, should be 
accomplished as soon as possible after you 
have gained New Orleans; then endeavor to 
open your communication with the northern 
column of the Mississippi, always bearing in mind 
the necessit}' of occupying Jackson, Mississippi, 
as soon as you can safely do so, either after or 
before you have effected the junction. Allow 
nothing to divert you from obtaining full pos- 



session of all the approaches to New Orleana. 
When that object is accomplished to its fullest 
extent, it will be necessary to make a combined 
attack on Mobile, in order to gaiu possession of 
the harbor and works, as well as to control the 
railway terminus at the city. In regard to this 
I will send more detailed instructions, as the 
operations of the northern column develop them- 
selves. I may simply state that the general 
objects of the expedition are first, the reduction of 
New Orleans and all its approaelies, then Mobile, 
and all its defenses, then Pensacola, Galveston, 
etc. It is probable that by the time New Or- 
leans is reduced, it will be in the power of the 
government to re-enforce the land forces suffi- 
ciently to accomplish all these objects; in the 
meantime you will please give all the assistance 
in your power to the army and navy com- 
manders in your vicinity, never losing sight of 
the fact that the great object to be achieved is 
the capture and firm retention of New Orleans. 
" Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" George B. McClell.a.n, 
"Major- General Commanding, &c., <fcc." 

February 24th was General Butler's last day 
in Washington. 

" Good-by, Mr. President We shall take 
New Orleans, or you'll never see me again." 

Mr. Stanton: "The man that takes New 
Orleans is made a lieutenant-general." 

February 25th, at nine in the evening, the 
steamshij) Mississippi sailed from Hampton 
Roads, with General Butler and his staff, and 
fourteen hundred troops on board. Mrs. Butler, 
the brave and kind companion of her general in 
all his campaigns hitherto, was still at his side 
on the quarter-deck of the Mississippi. Except 
himself. Major Strong, and Lieutenant Wiotzel, 
no man in the ship, and no man on the island 
to which they were bound, knew the object of 
the expedition. Articles and maps had appeared 
in the Herald, calculated to lead the enemy to 
suppose that New Orleans, if attacked at all, 
would be attacked from above, not from the 
gulf. The northern public were completely in 
the dark ; no one even guessed New Orleans. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



SHIP ISLAND. 



Ship Island is a long wave of whitest, finest 
sand, that glistens in the sun, and drifts before 
the wind like New England snow. It is one of 
four islands that stretch along ten or twelve 
miles from tiie gulf coast, forming Mississippi 
sound. It was to one of these sand i.slands that 
the British troops repaired after tlieir failure 
before New Orleans in 1815, where tliey lived 
for several weeks, amusing themselves with 
fishing and play-acting. Ship Island, seven 
miles long and three quarters of a mile wide, 
containing two square miles of laud — the best 
of the four for a rendezvous — is sixty-five miles 
from New Orleans, ninety-five from the mouths 
of the Mississippi, fifty from Mobile bay, tea 
from the nearest point of the state of Mississippi, 
of which the island is a part. It lies so low 
among the white, tumbling waves, that, wheq 



SHIP ISLAND. 



45 



covered with tents, it looked like a camp floating 
upon the sea. Land and water are menacingly 
blended there. Numberless porpoises, attracted 
by the refuse of the camps, floundered all around 
the shore, which was lined with a living fringe 
of sea-gulls, flapping, plunging, diving and 
screammg. The waves and the wind seemed 
to heave and toss the sand as easily as they did 
the water. In great storms the island changes 
its form ; large portions are severed, others sub- 
merged ; new bays and inlets appear. On land- 
ing, the voyager does not so much feel that he 
has come on shore as that he has got down over 
the ship's side to the shifting bottom of the sea, 
raised for a moment by the mighty swell of 
waters, threatening again to sink and disappear. 
Terra jirma, it is not. 

It was observed that the first aspect of this 
island struck death to the hopes of arriving troops. 
They faintly strove to cheer their spirits with 
Jocular allusions to the garden of Eden and to 
Coney Island ; and one of General Phelps's men, 
on looking over the ship's side upon the desolate 
scene of his inture home, raised a doleful laugh 
by exclaiming, in the language of Watts : 

" Lord, what a wretched land is this, 
Which yields us no supplies !" 

Appearances, however, were deceptive. The 
wretched land was found to yield abundant sup- 
plies of commodities and conveniences, most 
essential to soldiers. At the western end there 
is a really superior harbor, safe in all winds, ad- 
mitting the largest vessels. At the eastern ex- 
tremity groves of pine and stunted oak have suc- 
ceeded in establishing themselves, and afford 
plenty of wood. For fresh water, it is only 
necessary to sink a ban-el three feet ; it imme- 
diately fills with rain water, pure from the natural 
filter of the sand. Oysters of excellent quality 
can be had by wading for them ; fish abound ; 
and the woods, strange to relate, furnished the 
means of raccoon-huntiag. The climate, too, in 
the winter months, is more enjoyable than New- 
port in midsummer, and the bathing not inferior. 
Nevertheless, it must be owned, that with all 
these advantages, Ship Island was never regarded 
by the troops with high favor ; they never re- 
covered from the first shock of disappointment. 

Before the arrival of.General Phelps, in Decem- 
ber, 1861, the island had been the theater of 
many events. The breaking out of the rebellion 
found workmen, in the service of the United 
States, budding a fort for the defense of the har- 
bor. They soon abandoned the place, and the 
rebels immediately landed, burned the houses, 
damaged the fort, destroyed the lantern of the 
light-house, and retired. Then the blockading 
squadron appeared, captured many prizes, and 
nearly stopped the coasting trade between Mobile 
and New Orleans. But the coast being clear for 
a few days, a rebel force again landed, and pro- 
ceeded to repair the damage they had done, 
mounting heavy guns upon the fort, and erecting 
extensive works. Commodore McKean unable to 
reach them with the guns of the Massachusetts. 
In September, alarmed by rumors of a coming 
expedition, the rebels again abandoned the island; 
but, in so doing, were so much acclerated by the 
vigilant McKean, that, though they took their 
guns with them, ihey left the fort standing, and 
the commodore captured a vessel laden with tim- 



ber, hewn and cnt for the defensive works. 
From September to December, Commodore 
McKean, with a hundred and seventy sailors and 
marines, under Lieutenant McKean Buchanan, 
had held the harbor, and labored to remount the 
fort, and complete the works begun by the ene- 
my : darting out occasionally, and pouncing upon 
venturesome schooners from Mobile, or blockade- 
runners from Nassau. Five or six prizes were 
there when General Phelps hove in sight, and 
two light-draft steamers among them, invaluable 
for landing troops. 

During the next three months the island pre- 
sented a busy scene. The huge steamer Consti- 
tution landed her little army of troops, sailed, 
and returned with more; General Phelps and 
Commodore McKean striving, meanwhile, to com- 
plete the defenses, and to prepare in all ways for 
coming events, whatever those events might be ; 
neither of them knowing the designs of the gov- 
ernment. General Phelps, a strict disciplinarian- 
assiduously drilled and reviewed the troops. 

December, January, and Febraary passed 
slowly and drearily by. The island was covered 
with troops ; the fleet augmented in the harbor. 
The troops being inconveniently crowded, General 
Phelps sent over a party to the main land to see 
if there was room and safety there for a portion 
of his command. A sudden shower of canister 
from a battery near thewharf of Mississippi City 
was interpreted to mean that, though there might 
be room enough, there was not safety. The 
troops, therefore, were obliged to remain cooped 
and huddled together on the small part of the 
island that afforded tolerable camping ground. 
The monotony of their lives, in these forlorn and 
restricted circumstances, told upon the spirits of 
the men. The resigning fever broke out among 
the ofQcer.?, and "carried ofl"" several victims. 
At the end of February, when the last trans- 
ports arrived. General Phelps learned that the 
next arrival would be that of General Butler 
himself, who might be daily expected, and then 
active operations would begin. But the days 
passed on, and no general came. Two large 
steamers were lying in the harbor, at a daily ex- 
pense to the government of three thousand dollars. 
Now, General Phelps is one of those gentlemen 
who take the true view of the public money, re- 
garding it as the most sacred of all money, to be 
expended with the thoughtful economy with 
which an honest guardian expends the slender 
portion of a girl bequeathed to his care by a 
dying friend. StiU unacquainted with the plans 
of the government, hearing, too, that General 
Butler had been lost at sea, the costly presence 
of those steamers distressed his righteous soul; 
and, at length, he ordered them home. So there 
were ten thousand men, on a strip of sand, on a 
hostile coast, with no great supply of provisions, 
destitute of any adequate means either of getting 
away or of getting supplies. A deep despond- 
ency settled upon the troops as the month of 
March wore on, and they vainly scanned the 
horizon for a smoky harbinger of their expected 
commander. Fears for his safety received mel- 
ancholy confirmation, when a vessel arrived, 
bringing Brigadier-General Williams from Hatt- 
eras Inlet, for whom the Mississipi was to have 
called on her way. For a month. General Phelps 
waited for General Butler in jjainful suspense. 
The rumors of disaster to the Mississippi 



46 



SHIP ISLAND. 



were far from groundless. In getting to Ship 
Island, General Butler had almost as many ad- 
ventures as Jason in search of the golden fleece. 
To him, and to his staff, who had already en- 
countered so many obstacles in Massachusetts 
and at Washington, it seemed now as if gods 
and men were contending against their expedi- 
tion. But tlicy were animated with desperate 
resolution, feeling that onh^ some signal achieve- 
ment could vindicate their enterprise, and enable 
them to show themselves again in Massachusetts 
without shame. Tiie general had assumed so 
much of the responsibility of the expedition, had 
borne it along on his own shoulders through so 
many difficulties, against so much opposition or 
lukewarm support, that he felt there were two 
alternatives for him, glorious success or a glori- 
ous deatli. Xor did ho suppose for a moment, 
that the brunt of the aflau- would fall upon the 
wooden ships of the navy. He expected power- 
ful aid from the navy, but he took it for granted, 
that the closing and decisive encounter would be 
with the Confederate army on the swamps and 
bayous of the Delta, deiended by works supposed 
by the enemy to be impregnable. Storming par- 
ties, scaling hidders, siege guns, headlong as- 
saults into the imminent, deadly breach — these 
were the means by which he supposed the work 
was to be finally done, and this was evidently 
the impression of the secretary of war when he 
spoke of the reward which would be due to the 
man who should take New Orleans. 

February 25 th, at nine m the evening, the 
Mississippi steamed from Hampton Roads, and 
bore away for Hatteras and General "Williams. 
The weather was fine, and the night passed 
pleasantly. The morning broke beautifully upon 
a tranquil sea, and the superb ship bowled along 
before a fair wind. Landsmen began to fear 
that they should complete the voyage without 
having experienced what is so delightful to read 
about in Byron — a storm at sea. But, in the 
afternoon — a change, and such a change. The 
horizon thickened and drew in ; the wind rose ; 
and when, at six o'clock, they were eight miles 
off Hatteras Inlet, there was no getting in that 
night. The ship made for the open sea, and in 
so doing, ran within a few feet of perdition, in 
the form of a shoal, over which the waves broke 
into foam. The ship escaped, but not the cap- 
tain's reputation. The general's faith in his cap- 
tain was not entire before this ominous occur- 
rence, but from that moment it was gone, and 
he left the deck no more while the danger lasted. 
The gale increased as the night came on, until 
at midnight it blew half a hurricane. The 
vessel beiug short-haoded, there was a rumma- 
ging among the sleeping and sea-sick troops for 
sailors ; numbers of whom responded to the call, 
w^ho rendered good service during the night — 
their geucr.d awake, ubiquitous. It lulled 
towards morning ; and by noon, the wind had 
ceased. The ship was then so far from Hatteras, 
that it was determined to give up General Wil- 
liams, and make straiglit for the gulf " All felt 
relieved," remarks Major Bell in his itinerarj-, 
" and such as had desired to see a storm at sea, 
had had their wildest wish fully realized, and 
were satisfied." 

Again, the magnificent ship went prosper- 
ously on her way. The sea-sick struggled on 
deck; the disheartened were reassured; and 



those who had lost confidence in the captain had 
had tiieir faith in the general renewed. The 
night was serene ; the morning fine. At seven, 
the ship was off Cape Fear, going at great 
speed, wind and steam co-operating; land in 
sight ; men in high spirits over their coffee and 
biscuit. At half-past eight, when the general 
and his staff were at breakfast in tlie cabin, they 
heard and felt that most terrible of all sounds 
known to sea-faring men, the harsh grating of 
the ship's keel upon a shoal. Every one started 
to his feet, and hurried to the deck. The sky 
was clear, the land was five miles distant, a 
light-house was in sight. The vessel aground 
upon the rocks, but still moved. Her course 
was altered and altered again ; all points of the 
compass were tried; but still she touched. 
Boats were lowered, and soundings were taken 
in all directions, without a practicable channel 
being discovered. The captain, amazed and 
confounded, gave the fatal order to let go the 
bow anchor ; and the ship, with three sails set, 
drove upon the fluke, which pierced the forward 
compartment, and the water poured in in a tor- 
rent that baffled the utmost exertions of men 
and pumps. Benjamin Franklin, dead in Christ 
Church burial-ground at Philadelphia, saved the 
ship from fiUing ; for it was he who first learned 
from the Chinese, and suggested to the occi- 
dental world, the expedient of building ships 
with water-tight compartments. lu an hour 
from the first shock, the good steamer Missis- 
sippi was hard and fast upon Frying Pan Shoals, 
one compartment filled to the water fine, and 
the forward berths all afloat. There was no 
help in the captain ; he was in such a maze that 
he could not ascertain from his books even tlie 
state of the tide, whether it was rising or falling, 
a question upon which the safety of the ship de- 
pended. 

The general, in effect, took command of the 
ship. Major Bell and Captain R. S. Davis, both 
volunteer aids, were ordered to look into the 
captain's library for the hour of the next high 
tide. They reported falling water ; high tide at 
8 P.M. Signals of distress were hoisted, guns 
were fired, efforts were still made to get the ship 
afioat. Horsemen were descried on the shore, 
and fears were entertained that some Confederate 
vessel, lurking on the coast, might come out 
and make an easy capture of a defenseless trans- 
port Amid the manifold perils of the situation, 
the troops behaved with admirable composure, 
and perfect order was maintained without effort 
on the part of the officers. It could scarcely 
have been otherwise, for the men saw during 
that long and anxious day, Mrs. Butler, with her 
attendant, tranquilly hemming streamers on the 
quarter-deck, she not suspecting the essential 
aid she was rendering the officers in command. 
The men confessed the next day, tliat nothing 
cheered them so much while they were in peril, 
as the sight of Mrs. Butler sitting there, in the 
sight of them all, calmly plying her needle. 
And the danger was indeed most imminent. 
An ordinary squall would have broken up the 
ship ; it would have taken days to land the men 
in the ship's boats ; and they were upon a hos- 
tile shore. The strain was seveiest upon the 
nerves of those who were most famUiur with a 
coast noted for the suddenness and violence of its 
galos. One man's hair turned white ; one went mad. 



SHIP ISLAND. 



47 



Toward noon, a steamer liovo in sight ; revi- 
ving hope in some, quickening the fears of 
others. She approached cautiously, as if doubt- 
ful of the character of the grounded ship. The 
Union flag was made out flj'ing from her mast- 
head, but still she hung off' in the distance sus- 
piciously. General Butler sent Major Bell on 
board, who discovered that she was the gun- 
boat Mount Vernon, Commander 0. S. Glisson, 
of the United States navy, blockading Wilming- 
ton. Captaia Glisson, who had, indeed, doubted 
the character of the Mississippi, came on board, 
and placed his vessel at the service of General 
Butler. The sea was still smooth, but tokens of 
change being manifest, it was deemed best to 
transfer Mrs. Butler and her maid to the Mount 
Vernon. A hawser was attached to the Missis- 
sippi, and the gun-boat made many fruitless 
attempts to drag her fi'ora the shoals. Three 
hundred meu were put on board the Mount 
Vernon ; shells were thrown overboard ; the 
troops ran in masses from bow to stern, and 
from stern to bow ; the engines worked at full 
speed ; but still she would not budge. As the 
tide rose, the wind and waves rose also ; it be- 
came difficult to transfer the troops; and, soon, 
the huge ship began to roll and strike the rocks 
alarmingly. The sua went down, and twilight 
was deepening into darkness, the wind still in- 
creasing. But soon after seven, to the inex- 
pressible relief of all on board, she moved for- 
ward a few feet, and then surged ahead into 
deeper water, and was afloat. The Mount 
Vernon went slowly on to show the way the 
Mississippi following ; the lead continuing for a 
whole hour to show but six inches of water 
under her keel. The vessel hung down heavily 
by the head, the forward compartment being 
filled, and no one had a sense of safety until, at 
midnight, both vessels came to anchor in the 
Cape Fear River. " All behaved wonderfully 
well," Major Bell records. " The resources of 
the general seemed inexhaustible ; his seeming 
calmness and his clear judgment, in view of the 
responsibihty which the ignorance of the captaia 
left upon him were wonderful." 

The next morning, after a survey of the dam- 
aged vessel, it was decided to go on to Port 
Royal for repairs, trusting to the settled appear- 
ance of the weather ; the Mount Vernon to ac- 
company. Mrs. Butler and the troops returned 
to the Mississippi, except one gentleman, the 
chaplain of a regiment, who resigned his com- 
mission, and stuck to the vessel that had a com- 
petent captain and no hole in her bottom. Gen- 
eral Butler was ingenious in expedients to check 
the tendency to resign, which is apt to manifest 
itself in certain circumstances ; but he placed no 
obstacle in the way of the chaplain's escape. 
The vessels put to sea in the afternoon. The 
next day was Sunday, and prayers were said on 
the deck of the Mississippi. The most profound 
solemnity prevailed in the dense throng of sol- 
diers, who literally watched and prayed; prayed 
to Heaven and watched the weather. In the 
afternoon they were cheered with the sight of 
the great fleet blockading Charleston, one of the 
vessels of which took the place of the Mount 
Vernon. At sunset, on the second of March, the 
Mississippi and her new consort, the Matanzas, 
anchored off Hilton Head. 

As no adequate transportation for the troops 



could be had at Port Royal, nothing remained 
but to attempt to repair the Mississippi, and this, 
too, in the absence of a dry dock and other 
facilities for handling so large a vessel. The 
ship was taken to Seabrook Landing, on Shell 
Creek, seven miles from Hilton Head, and the 
men and stores were removed. The naval 
officers on the station. Captain Boggs, Captain 
Renshaw, Captain Boutcllo, and others, con- 
ferred with the general, and lent all possible aid 
to the work in hand. Plan after plan was pro- 
posed, discussed, rejected. Men and pumps 
strove in vain to clear the compartment of water. 
Twice the leak was plugged from the inside, and 
twice the water burst through again, and des- 
troyed in an hour the work of two days and 
nights. It can be truly averred, that General 
Butler's indomitable resolution and inexhaustible 
ingenuity were the cause of the final success ; 
for long after every one else bad despaired, ho 
persisted, and still suggested new expedients. 
A sail was at length, with inconceivable difficulty 
and after many disheartening failures, drawn 
over the leak ; the pumps gained upon the water, 
and as the head of the vessel rose, the work be- 
came more feasible. When the water had fallen 
below the leak, a few hours of vigorous e.xertion 
sufficed to stop it, and the naval gentlemen pro- 
nounced the vessel fit for sea. 

The troops were re-embarked, and the luckless 
Mississippi started for the mouth of the harbor. 
The captain, disregarding the advice of the naval 
officers, who were familiar with the soundings, 
ran her aground upon a bed of shells, and there 
she stuck as fast as upon Frying Pan Shoals. 
" It now became painfully evident," remarks 
Major Bell, " that if we ever hoped to get the 
Mississippi to Ship Island hy ivater, we must 
have a new captain." General Butler yielded 
to the universal desire, and to his own sense of 
the necessity of the case ; he ordered a board 
of inquiry, which reported the captain incom- 
petent, he deposed him and placed him under 
arrest in his state-room. •' I am grieved,' he 
wrote to the captain, "to be obliged to this 
action, for our personal relations have been of 
the kindest character, and I know yourself will 
believe that only the sternest sense of duty 
would compel me to it.' 

Acting-master Sturgis, of the Mount Vernon, 
took the vacant place. Under his skillful direc- 
tion, the ship was once more floated, but not till 
the men had been again landed, and all the tugs in 
port had done their utmost. March 13th, under 
a salute of flfteen guns from the flag-ship, the 
Mississippi put to sea, still accompanied by the 
Matanzas with part of tlie troops on board. 

No more disasters. Seven days of prosperous 
sailing brought them in sight of Ship Island, a 
long camp floating flat upon the gulf. Dismal 
scene ! A gale was blowing as the ship steamed 
into the harbor, and huge waves were seen 
rolling up, apparently among the tents, and no 
man could tell which was water and which was 
land. For two days and more, the gale con- 
tinued, and the men, unable to land, looked out 
upon the island dolefully. It seemed a sorry 
port to come to after siich a voyage. A gloom 
that some men who were not easily dismayed 
could scarcely endure, much less conceal, fell 
upon every heart. I have heard General Butler 
say, that when he saw what Ship Island was, 



48 



SHIP ISLA.ND. 



and learned that General Phelps had sent a\yay 
the transports, and thought of the many chances 
there were of tlio failuo of supplies, and how 
absolutely dependent they all were upon exter- 
nal and distant resources, his heart, for the first 
time during the war, died within him, and it 
required all the resolution and fortitude ho 
could command to maintain a decent sliow of 
cheerfulness. lie was somewhat debilitated too, 
at this time, by a return of the disease con- 
tracted some years before, at the Xational Hotel 
in Washington. 

On the 25lh of March, just thirty days from 
Hampton Roads, the troops were landed. There 
being no house on the island, a shanty of 
charred boards, eighteen feet square, was erected 
for the residence of Mrs. Butler, furniture for 
which was opportunely procured from a cap- 
tured vessel. A vast old-fashioned French bed- 
stead half filled the little cabin. 

A closer acquaintance with the island did not 
raise the spirits of the troops. The heat was 
intense. Innvmierable wore the flies. The 
general discomfort was extreme ; and to add to 
the gloom, phantoms were not wanting. As the 
belief gained ground that New Orleans was the 
object of the expedition, rumors of the immense 
preparations of the enemy to defend the city 
obtained currency ; the river was lined with 
batteries for a hundred miles; "rams" of fearful 
magnitude and power had been constructed ; an 
army of fifty thousand men were in the field. 
And soon after General Butler's arrival, the 
news reached the island, with enormous exagge- 
rations, of the foray of the Merrimac among the 
fleet in Hampton Roads. Were the iron-clads 
of New Orleans likely to be less formidable? 
Had we any Monitors to meet them ? If the 
Wellington heroes under Pakenham could not 
take the city when it was defended by only 
four thousand militia, badly armed, what was 
the prospect now, when all the appliances of 
modern science liad been employed, and the 
place was defended by forts, columbiads, cables, 
a whole fleet of Merrimacs, and a large army ?* 

It happened, however, that the men in com- 
mand of the joint expedition were peculiarly 
insensible to phantoms. General Butler was at 
once immersed in the details of preparation, and 
rose superior to the prevailing depression. Cap- 
tain Farragut — the immortal Farragut — who had 
arrived within a few days, and taken command 
of the fleet, had all an old sailor's contempt for 
everything that bore the name of ram. From 



* New Orleans newspapers wore brought over from 
Biloxi in consideriilile numbers. Sucli parngrajilis as 
the following were found in them: "The Mississippi 
is fortified so as to be impassable for any hostile fleet or 
flotilla. Forts Jackson and St. Diilip are armed with 
one hundred and seventy heavy guns (si.xty-lhree 
pounders, rifled by I?arkley'Britton, and received from 
Kngland.i The navigation of the river is slopped by a 
dam of about a quarter of a mile from the above forts. 
No flotilla on earth would force that dam in less than 
two hours, during wliicli it would be within short and 
cross range of one humlred and seventy guns of the 
heaviest caliber, many of which would be served with 
red-hot shot, numerous furnaces for which have been 
erected in every fort and battery. 

" In a day or two we shall have ready two iron-cased 
floating batteries. The plates are four and a half inches 
thick, of the best hammered iron, received from Eng- 
land and France, iiach iron-e:ised battery will mount 
twenty -six eight pounders, placed so as to skim the 
water, and striking the enemy's hull between wind and 



the first, ho regarded the naval part of the ene- 
my's preparations as unworthy of serious con- 
sideration. Give Mm wooden ships. He would 
answer for the rams and iron-clads — floating 
caldrons to boil sailors in. He was for fighting 
on deck, not in the bottom of a tea-kettle. 
Wooden ships were good enough for Nelson, 
Perry, Lawrence, Decatur ; and they were good 
enough for him. The rebels were heartily wel- 
come to their rams and floating batteries, their 
railroad-ironed steamboats, and their fire-rafts of 
pine knots. 

A few hours afler General Butler had landed 
his troops, ho was in consultation with Captain 
Farragut — Captain Bailey of the navy being also 
present, as well as Major Strong and Lieutenant 
Weitzel. The plan of operations then adopted 
was the one which was substantially carried out, 
and which resulted in the capture of the city. 

I. Captain Porter, with his fleet of twenty -one 
bomb-schooners, should anchor below the two 
forts, Jackson and St. Philip, and continue to fire 
upon them until they were reduced, or until his 
ammunition was nearly exhausted. During the 
bombardment. Captain Farragut's fleet should 
remain out of fire, as a reserve, just below the 
bomb-vessels. The army, or so much of it as 
transportation could be found for, should remain 
at the mouth of the river, awaiting the issue of 
the bombardment. If Captain Porter succeeded 
in reducing the forts, the army would ascend the 
river and garrison them. It would then be 
apparent, probably, what the next movement 
should be. 

II. If the bombardment did not reduce or 
silence the forts, then Captain Farragut, with his 
fleet of steamers, would attempt to run by them. 
If he succeeded, he proposed to clear the river 
of the enemy's fleet, cut off the forts from sup- 
plies, and push on at least far enough to recon- 
noiter the next obstruction. 

III. Captain Farragut having passed the forts, 
General Butler would at once take the troops 
round to the rear of Fort St. Philip, land them 
in the swamps there, and attempt to carry the 
fort by assault. The enemy had made no prep- 
arations to resist an attack from that quarter, 
supposing the swamps impassable. But Lieu- 
tenant Weitzel, while completing the fort, had 
been for two years in the habit of duck-shooting 
all over those swamps, and knew every bay and 
bayou of them. He assured General IButler 
that the lauding of troops there would be diffi- 
cult, but not impossible ; and hence this part of 



water. We have an abundant supply of incendiary 
shells, cupola furnaces for molten iron, congreve rockets 
and flre-ships. 

" Between New Orleans and the forts there is a con- 
stant succession of earthworks. At the Plain of Chal- 
metto, near Janin's property, there are redoubts, armed 
with rifled cannon, which have been found to be eflfec- 
live at five miles range. A ditch thirty feet widy and 
twenty deep extends from the .Mississii)pi to LaCipriere. 

'•In Forts St. Philii>and Jackson, there are three thou- 
sand men, of whom a goodly portion are experienced 
artillery-men, and gunners who have served in the 
navy. 

'■ At New Orleans itself we have thirty-two thousand 
infantry, and as many more quartered in the immediate 
neighborhood. In discipline and drill they are far 
superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and 
active generals, who possess our entire confidence, 
General Mansfield Lovell. and Brigadier-General Kug- 
gles. For commodore, we have old Ilollins, a Nelson 
in bis way. — New Orleans Picayune, April 5</t, 1S62. 



SHIP ISLAND. 



49 



the sclieme. Both in the formation of the plan 
and in its executiou, tiie local knowledge and 
pre-eiuiueut professional skill of Lieutenant 
Weitzel were of the utmost value. Few men 
contributed more to the reduction of the city 
than he. There are few more valuable officers 
in the service than General "Weitzel, as the 
country well knows. 

IV. The foi'ts being reduced, the land and 
naval force ^vould advance towards the city in 
the manner that sliould then seem best. 

This was the plan. The next question was : 
when could they be ready to begin ? Captain 
Farragut said he would sail at once for the 
mouths of the river, and thought he could be 
ready to move thence toward the forts in seven 
days. General Butler engaged to have six 
tliousand men embarked and prepared in seven 
days. He would fill all the steamers he had, 
and take the remainder of the force in tow in 
sailing vessels. These arrangements concluded. 
Captain Farragut and the fleet departed, and 
General Butler set to work to do a month's work 
in seven days and nights. 

He did it. He labored night and day. Having 
no quartermaster, no priceless Captain George, 
who was consigned to Lowell because a senator 
wanted his place for a relative, General, Butler 
was seen on the wharf, blending the quarter- 
master with the major-general, and not disdain- 
ing the duty of the stevedore, when the steve- 
dore's duty became the vital one. A hundred 
Massachusetts carpenters were detailed to make 
scaling ladders ; a hundred boatmen to help to 
to man the thirty boats which were to nose 
their devious way through the reeds, creeks, 
pools and sharks in the rear of Fort St. Philip. 
The troops were formed into three brigades; 
the first under General Phelps, the second under 
General Williams, the third under Colonel Shep- 
ley, of the Twelfth Maine. The stafl' was an- 
nounced. A court-martial was organized, to 
bring up arrears of discipline, and a board to 
examine the new officers. A blast issued from 
head-quarters against intoxicating drinks, " the 
curse of the army." "Forbidden," added the 
general, "by every regulation, prohibited by 
official authority, condemned by experience, it 
still clings to the soldier, although more deadly, 
in this climate, than the rilie. All sales, there- 
fore, within this department, will be punished by 
instant expulsion of the party oflendiug, if a 
civilian, or by court-martial if an officer or 
soldier. All intoxicating liquors kept for sale or 
to be used as a beverage, will be seized and 
destroyed, or confiscated to hospital uses." 

On the sixth day, seven regiments and two 
batteries of artillery were embarked, ready to 
sail as soon as ihe word should come from Cap- 
tain Farragut. But high winds and low tides 
were placing unexpected obstacles in the way of 
the fleet, the larger vessels of which were many 
days in getting over the bar. General Butler 
was obliged to disembark his troops, and await 
the tardy lightering of the ships into the river. 
A tedious fortnight passed before the fleet was 
ready, the general vibrating between the island 
and tlie mouths of the river. 

A romantic incident occurred during this inter- 
val, which led to a variety of curious adventures. 
A mischance of war tossed upon the sand- 
beach of Ship Island, a beautiful little girl, three 



years of age, the child of a New Orleans phj'sican, 
a rebel of noted bitterness. She was voyaging 
in Mississippi Sound with her parents and nurse, 
when the vessel being clia.sed by a gunboat, 
foundered, and all hands took to the boats. Tiio 
little creature was a pet with the sailors: she 
was among them in the forecastle when the ves- 
sel went down, and they took her with them into 
the boat, while the parents and the nurse hurried 
into another boat with the captain and mate. 
The boats were soon separated in the gale, and 
the one containing the cliild were picked up by 
a cruiser, and brought to Ship Island. The arri- 
val of the child among tlie troops, so many of 
whom had left children or little sisters at home, 
excited a degree ol' interest difficult to conceive. 
She was taken to Mrs. Butlers's shanty, her 
clothes all wet and torn, and there she was pro- 
vided with such clothing as could be hastily 
made, and otherwise provided for with the ten- 
derest care. But Ship Island in such circum- 
stances was no place fit for her. She could tell her 
name, and seemed to have a lively sense of hav- 
ing a grandfather in New Orleans, whose name 
she also knew. The general determined to send 
her as far on her way to this grandfather as he 
could. "Whether her parents had survived the 
storm no one knew. 

A sloop was manned, and Major Strong was 
directed to convey her, under a flag of truce, to 
Biloxi, the nearest point of the opposite shore, 
and place her in the custody of a magistrate, 
with money to pay her expenses to New Orleans. 
Major Strong performed this congenial duty. He 
found at Biloxi a probate of wills, who was also 
a justice of the peace, to whom he committed the 
child, and gave him a sum of money in gold, suf- 
ficient to defray the cost of her transportation to 
the city. In the dusk of the evening, the tide 
having fallen, the sloop started to return, but 
grounded on the bar, a few hundred yards from 
the shore. Notliing remained but to wait six 
hours for the rising of the tide. Soon after dark, 
a boat came ofi" with four men, one of whom 
Major Strong recognized as a person who had 
conversed with him in a friendly manner on shore. 
This gentlemen warned him that he would be 
attacked by a large force in the course of the 
evening, and advised him to surrender. Scarcely 
believing that men could be found base enough 
to assail a flag of truce on such an errand as his, 
Major Strong nevertheless thought it best to send 
a boat to the nearest cruiser for assistance. He 
had seven men with him. Five of these he sent 
away in the boat, under Captain Conant, leaving 
three men and eight muskets in the sloop. Ma- 
jor Strong was one of those soldiers who know 
nothing about surrendering; it formed no part of 
his calculations ; he had not studied the subject, 
and did not admit it as a branch of the art mili- 
tary. He barricaded the deck of the sloop, put 
his eight muskets into position, and extended a 
stout log of wood over the side to play the part 
of a howitzer. His two men were ordered below, 
having been first instructed in their role. One 
of the men, Macdonald by name, had brought his 
violin with him, and kept up a lively performance 
in the cabin, of national airs and dancing tunes. 

About nine o'clock two large boats, lilied with 
armed men, were seen approaching from the shore. 
Voices called out : 

" Surrender I Surrender 1" 



50 



SHIP ISLAND. 



Major Strong replied : " I am here under a flag 
of truce, perlbrniiiig an errand of mercy to one of 
your citizens. If you attempt to violate the laws 
of this sacred mission, I will blow you with this 
howitzer," laying his hand on the log," so deep 
into , that your commander will find it diffi- 
cult to produce you at taps. 

""We'll see about that," returned a voice. 

The boats hauled off as if to consider the mat- 
tor. They soon approached again one on each 
side. 

" Keep those boats on the same side of the 
sloop," shouted the Major, " or I'll sink both of 
you. 

The order was obeyed. The boats came to- 
gether, and lay off at hailing distance. 

" Don't come any nearer," cried Major Strong, 
"if you have anything to say to me, send one 
man." 

A man came wading, and halted a few yards 
from the vessel. 

" How many men have you got there ?" asked 
Major Strong. 

" Forty," replied the man. " How many have 
you. 

" Well, not many, but enough to defend this 
vessel. 

The major was aware that anything like a 
boast of his numbers would confirm the opinion 
of the maguauimous foe, that ho was in reality 
defenseless. 

"While this colloquy was going on, the two 
men in the hold were performing an important 
part. They contrived to make a great deal of 
noise, and Macdonald continued his fiddling. Ma- 
jor Strong frequently calling out : 

" Keep quiet down there, men." " No, don't 
come on deck yet." "All lieads below, I say," 
" Major Jones, look to your men there forward, 
and keep those heads below the hatches." " Stop 
that fiddling, Macdonald ; there'll be time enough 
to dance by and by. 

The wading hero returned to the boats, which 
lingered a while, and then, firing a volley at the 
sloop, rapidily disappeared, and were no more 
seen. A gun-boat soon came to the rescue of 
the party, and the facts were duly reported to the 
general in the morning. 

The boiling indignation excited in all minds by 
the dastardly conduct of the Biloxi savages may 
be imagined. TIjc general instantly determined 
to give them a lesson in good manners. At half- 
past two that very afternoon, two gun-boats, the 
Jackson and New London, and the transport 
Lewis, with Colonel Cahill's Ninth Connecticut, 
and Captain Everett's battery on board, sailed 
for Biloxi, for the purpose of conveying that les- 
son to their benighted minds. Major Strong 
commanded the expedition, attended "oy Captain 
Jonas II. French, Lieutenant Turnbull, Captain 
Conant, Lieuteuant Kinsman, Captain Davis, 
Captain John Clark, and Lieutenant Diddle. 

Soon after four o'clock, the armed steamers an- 
chored otr Biloxi. and tho transport Lewis made 
fast to the wharf. Tho inhabitants lined the 
beach, and one wild son of Mississippi stood on 
the wharf, rifie in iiand, defying the troops to 
come on shore. The men were marshaled on the 
wharf Major Strong placed himself at their 
head, and gave the word to advance. Tho wild 
son of Mississippi retired. In a few minutes 
Biloxi was surrounded and pervaded by Union 



troops, the people looking sullenly and silently 
on. Biloxi was a watering place in otiier times; 
the Mississippi cotton-planters' Long Branch, now 
half deserted, dilapidated and lorlorn. Major 
Strong found ample quarters in tho building 
which had served as a summer hotel. Two 
prisoners were brought in ; one, the valorous 
ilississippian just mentioned: the other a four- 
footed ass. 

" "What do you bring that creature here for ? 
asked tho commander of the force. 

" Isn't he a Saypoy si-cessionist ?" replied the 
Irishman who had brought him in. 

" Let him run," said the major. 

"Very well, sir," said the witty O'Dowd, as 
he obeyed the order. " I think myself we had 
better not touch the privates till we catch the 
commander. 

By the time the surrounding country had been 
well rcconnoitored, night closed in, and further 
proceedings were deferred till the morrow. The 
troops slept in and around the town. Not a 
Biloxian was molested, not a house was plun- 
dered or disfigured, not a hen-roost disturbed, 
uor a garden despoiled. An Irish officer asked 
a group, where the blackguards were who had 
fired into the boat that brought home the infernal 
secessionist's darliu' shipwrecked daughter; but 
as he elicited no response, the subject was 
dropped for the night. Indeed, the sad, despair- 
ing expression of every face, the evident pov- 
erty of the people, the mauj- abandoned houses, 
and the utter desolation of the scene, seemed to 
disarm the resentment of the troops, and a 
feeling of pity for the "poor devils" arose in its 
stead. The maimer in which the caught Missis- 
sippiau devoured his rations, led tho men to infer 
that provisions were not abuudaut in Biloxi ; 
which was found to bo true, not of Biloxi only, 
but of all that coast for hundreds of mUes. The 
people were intense and vigilant devotees of 
secession, however. The sp}' who had been 
engaged by General Butler at Washington, six 
weeks before, had accomplished his mission sp 
far as to visit Now Orleans, and had come to 
Biloxi, designing to steal over to Ship Island, 
but he was there suspected, closely watched, 
and finally arrested. lie was then in prison at 
New Orleans. Not a scrap of paper was 
found upon him, but he was still detained on 
suspicion. 

At dawn the next morning. Captain Clark and 
Lieutenant Kinsman led a boat chase after a 
schooner laden with molasses ; but wind proving 
a better resource than oars, the schooner escaped. 
As the day advanced, the citizens of Biloxi pre- 
sented themselves at Major Strong's head-quar- 
ters, all avowing themselves secessionists, none 
of them justifying the attack on the sloop. The 
major's orders were to procure a written apology 
from the mayor, and from the commander of the 
Confederate forces, if any such there were. The 
maj'or, however, kept out of the way ; and it 
was not till his daughter had been politely con- 
ducted to head-cjuarters as a hostage for his ap- 
pearance, that he could bo found, lie gave the 
written apology required, alleging that the party 
who fired upon the sloop were a mob which ho 
had no force to control. At sunset, with the 
band playing and colors flying, Major Strong ro- 
cmbarked the troops, and tho fleet steamed 
westward for Pass Christian, where a regiment 



REDUCTION OP THE FORTS. 



51 



of the enemy was posted, and which the gen- 
eral's orders autliorizcd liim to visit. At ten in 
the evening, the steamers anchored oft' the pass, 
and the troops slept on board. 

Danger was approaching them while they 
slept. The thunder of cannon woke them as 
the day was dawning ; and before the troops had 
rubbed their eyes open, crash came a ten-inch 
shot through the transport, perforating the 
steam-pipe, passing through the cabin-lights, 
and out through the smoke-stack. In an instant, 
a second shot struck her, which carried away 
the cook's galley and part of the wheel-house. 
Three of the enemy's gun-boats, their lights all 
out, had stolen from Lake Borgne upon our little 
squadron, and this was their morning salutation. 
A sharp action ensued. It was twenty minutes 
before the Lewis could got steam enough to 
move, during which she received three more 
shots, and escaped three. But at length she 
both moved and acted. Fortunately, she had 
been provided with two rifled cannon, which 
were used with so much effect as to materially 
aid in the repulse of the enemy. The two gun- 
boats plied the foe with shot and shell for more 
than an hour before they thought proper to seek 
safety in the shallows of Lake Borgne. Strange 
to relate, but one man of the Union force was 
wounded, and he slightly — Captain Conaut, of 
the Thirty-First Massachusetts. 

Major Strong executed his purpose. He 
landed his troops, and took possession of the 
town, a sea-side summer resort, frequented by 
the people of New Orleans. He dashed upon 
the camp of the Confederate regiment, three 
miles distant, and reached it so quicklj' after the 
flight of the enemy as to find in the colonel's 
tent an unfinished dispatch, and the pen with 
which he was writing it still wet with ink. The 
dispatch was designed to inform General Lovell, 
commanding at New Orleans, of the descent 
upon Biloxi and Pass Christian, and announced 
the colonel's " desire" to attack the Union troops 
" toward evening." The camp was destroyed ; 
the public stores in the town were also seized, 
part of them carried away, and the rest burnt. 

At Pass Christian, the Union officers had their 
first taste of the quality and humor of the .ladies 
of the south-west. 

" A portion of the women," writes an officer, 
" stood their ground ; Mrs. and Miss Lee were 
of this number. Mrs. Lee and her husband 
keep a hotel, which is known as ' Lee's boarding 
house.' It is a snug inn. But Mrs. Lee is a 
tartar. She told Major Strong, that ' Mr. Lee, 
although he kept a hotel, was of one of the first 
families of Virginia.' 

"'I dare say,' replied the Major; 'there is 
nothing incompatible with great qualities in the 
business he pursues!' 

" While this parley was going on. Miss Lee 
pushed hersjlf through the front door. She 
pouted as she passed over the portico, pulling as 
she went an unwilling hood over her handsome 
face, then somewhat disfigured by a frown. 

" After the miniature sea and land fights, the 
officers met again at Lee's boarding house. 
Bread and butter and poor claret, were the sub- 
stance of the repast ; Mrs. Lee and her fire- 
emitting daughter insisting upon occupying 
chairs at the table, while Mr. Lee waited upon 
the guests and drew the corks. The display of 



appetite was good. I think every man ate the 
worth of the gold dollar which ho gave Mr.s. 
Lee, who carefully f)lded away the hateful 
Lincoln coin in the corner of her dirty ."".pron. 
It struck me as queer to see this ' first lady' in 
clothes which soap could have improved." 

Miss Lee could not be appeased. She con- 
tinued to pout and frown, and say rude things to 
the officers iu reply to their polite banter, when 
silence or witty retort would have been in bet- 
ter accord with the lofty claims of her family. 

The squadron returned to Ship Island without 
farther adventure. General Butler marked his 
sense of the excellent conduct of the troops in a 
general order : 

" Of their bravery in the field," he said, "he 
felt assured ; but another quality, more trying to 
the soldier, claims his admiration. After having 
been for months subjected to the privations ne- 
cessarily incident to a camp life upon this island, 
these well-disciplined soldiers, although for many 
hours in full possession of two rebel villages, 
filled with what to them were most desirable 
luxuries, abstaining from the least unauthorized 
interference with private property, and all mo- 
lestation of peaceable citizens. This behavior 
is worthy of all praise. It robs war of half its 
horrors — it teaches our enemies how much they 
have been misinformed by their de.-'igning lead- 
ers, as to the character of our soldiers and the 
intention of our government — it gives them a 
lesson and an example in huiuanity and civilized 
warfare, much needed, however little it may be 
followed. The general commanding commends 
the action of the men of this expedition to every 
soldier in this department. Let it be imitated hy 
all in the towns and cities we occupy, a living 
witness that the United States soldier fights 
only for the Union, the constitution, and the en- 
forcement of the laws." 

Readers will care to know, that the child, the 
unconscious cause of these proceedings, was 
restored to her parents. Her father was seeking 
her at Fort Pickens, under a flag of truce, while 
Major Strong was conveying her to Biloxi. Her 
mother, some weeks later, induced the gentleman 
to call upon General Butler at New Orleans, and 
thank him for his goodness to their offspring. 

April 15th, the welcome word came from 
Captain Farragut, that all his fleet were over the 
bar, and reloaded, and that he hoped, the next 
day, to move up the river to the vicinity of the 
forts. He had made all possible haste ; but the 
dense, continuous fogs, and the extraordinary 
lowness of the water had retarded every move- 
ment. On the 17th, General Butler was at the 
mouths of the river with his six thousand troops 
ready to co-operate, if the fleet had been delaja'd 
a few days longer, General Butler would have 
taken Pensacola, which he learned had been left 
almost defenseless. The naval commander 
vetoed the scheme, not anticipating further delay 
in operating against the forts. 



CHAPTER IX. 

REDUCTION OP THE FORTS. 

The distance from the mouths of the Missis- 
sippi to New Orleans is one hundred and five 



52 



REDUCTION OF TEE FORTS. 



miles. The two forts aro situated at a beud iu 
the river, siveaty-livo miles below tiio city, and 
thirty from the place where the river breaks into 
the pa-sses or mouths. Fort Jackson, on the 
western bank, is hidden from the view of the 
ascending- voyager by a strip of dense woods, 
which oxtendij along'tho bank to a point eight 
miles below it ; but Fort St. Philip, on the eastern 
shore, lies plainly in sight, because it is placed 
in the upper part of tlio bend, and the ground iu 
front is covered only by a tliick growth of reeds 
These forts do not look very formidable to the 
unprofos.sional eye. They do not stand boldly 
out of the water, presenting great masses of fine 
masonry, like those to which we are accustomed 
in northern seaports. Fort Jackson is but 
twenty-five feet high, and St. Philip uiueteen ; 
and as the ditches and outer works are neatly 
sodded, the passing traveler sees little more than 
extensive slopes of green, close-shaven grass, 
and a low red-brick wail, with many guns 
mounted on it, and several piercing it. 

But these forts, lying low in the bend of a 
river half a mile wide and running four miles an 
hour, presented an obstacle to an ascending foe 
such as, I believe, no lleet had ever been able to 
overcome. One poor fort at that bend, half 
finished and half manned, had kept a JJritish 
fleet at bay, in 1815, for nine days ; the English 
vainly using the same thirteen-inch bombs which 
were to be employed in 18G2. General Jackson's 
"Tom Overton," who commanded Fort St. 
Philip on that occasion, was uncle of Thomas 
Overton Moore, governor of Louisiana under 
Jeflerson Davis. It was not till the eiglith day 
that Overton could get one bomb in position 
capable of throwing a shell among tlie enemy, 
but that one sent them flying down the river — 
two bomb vessels, one brig, one sloop and one 
schooner. A thousand heavy shells had fallen 
about the fort, without impairing its defensive 
power.* Eut now there were two forts in the 
bend, constructed by professional engineer.s, at a 
cost of a million and a quarter of dollars. Fort 
Jackson, a five-sided worjf, of immense strength, 
mounted seventy-four guns, fourteen of which 
were under cover ; and bulow it was a supplemen- 
tary battery mounting six. Fort St. Philip was 
of inferior strength, mounting forty guns; but it 
was protected by distance, being a lew hundred 
yards higher up the river, and had a strong 
battery on each side of it on the river bank. 
The uumilitary reader does not take the comfort 
which uncle Toby found in such words as bastion, 
glacis, scarp, counterscarp, fosse, covered- w.iy, 
curtain, casemate and barbette. We are in- 
formed, however, that the forts had all these 
things and more. I have often looked out those 
words in the dictionary, and find the sum total 
of their meaning to be, that the forts, with their 
outer works, pointed one hundred and twenty- 
eight heavy guns upon tlie river ; that fourteen 
of those guns could be worked under cover, and 
tliat the batteries were protected by ditches wide 
and deep, by walls of immense strength, by 
bulwarks of earili and sod.s, and by enfilading 
howitzers. All had been done for them which 
the skill of Beauregard and Weitzel could ac- 
complish, working with leisurely deliberation, 
and aided by the treasury of the United States. 

* Parton's Life of Jackson, ii. 239, 



What they had left undone, the zeal of the Con- 
federates had supplied during many months of 
preparation. 

They were garrisoned, as it appears, by fifteen 
hundred men, commanded by General J. K. 
Duncan, a recreant Peniisylvanian, educated at 
West Point. The commander of St. Philip was 
Colonel Higgins, once an officer of the army of 
the United SUites. A largo portion of the gar- 
risons were men of northern birth, who had 
been consigned to the forts because their devo- 
tion to the Confederate cause was considered 
questionable. But experience shows that it is a 
matter of little consequence by what process men 
aro got together within the brick walls of a fort 
or the wooden walls of a ship, provided they are 
ably, justl}'', and firmly commanded. "An Eng- 
lish seventy-four," says Carlyle, " is one of the 
impossiblest entities. A press-gang knocks 
men down in the streets of sea-towns, and drags 
them on board. If the ship were to bo stranded, 
I have heard they would nearly all run ashore 
and desert." Nevertheless, while the ship re- 
mains at sea, they usually do all that the various 
occasions demand. Duncan had a motley, ill- 
clad, discontented, and rather turbulent garrison, 
but they stood manfully to the guns as long as 
standing to the guns could avail. 

The weakness of the forts was the kind of 
guns with which they were armed. " All of 
them," says Lieutenant Weitzel, " were the old, 
smooth-bore guns picked up at the ditl'erent 
works around the city, with the exception of 
about six ten-inch columbiads, and two one 
hundred pound rifled guns of their own manu- 
fiicture, a formidable kind of gun." He is of 
tlie opinion that if the forts had been provided 
with a full complement of the best modern artil- 
lery, they could not have been reduced or passed 
by wooden ships. 

It was not, however, upon the forts that the 
enemy wholly relied. Across the river, from a 
point just below Fort Jackson, a cable was 
stretched, upon which the enemy had expended 
prodigious labor. They had first supported it 
by heavy logs thirtj^ feet long attached to seven 
large anchors. But this cable caught the floating 
trees and timber which, in a few weeks, formed 
a heaped-up. Red-river raft, extending half a 
mile above the cable. The chain broke at length, 
and the whole structure, cable, logs, anchor, 
buoys, and trees, were swept down by the cur- 
rent toward the gulf. A lighter c;ible was then 
procured fi'om the stores at Pensacola. Seven 
or eight schooners, dismasted and filled with 
logs, were strongly aneiiored in a row across the 
river, and the chain was laid across each of them 
and securely Hastened round the capstan. At 
the end of the cable, on the shore opposite Fort 
Jackson, a umd battery was built to drive off 
parties attempting to sever the barrier. Under 
this cable the floating timber freely passed ; and 
there was an ingenious contrivance near the 
fort, by which the vessels of the foe were quickly 
admitted and the aperture quickly closed. 

This cable, because of itssignal failure as a 
means of defense, has been too liglitly regarded. 
It might have been a formidable obstacle. Our 
naval officers think that if it had been placed just 
above St. PhiUp, instead of just below P'ort Jack- 
son, it could scarcely have been cut ; because, in 
that case, the party attempting it would have 



EEDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



53 



had to run tho gauntlet oC a hundred guns, 
against a rapid current, remain under the fire of 
most of them during the oijeration, and then de- 
scend two miles under tlio same fire before reach- 
ing the fleet. Placed were it was, however, 
there was reason to hope that a party could steal 
silently upon it in the darkness of a foggy night, 
and work upon it for a considerable time before 
being discovered : and even if discovered, the 
night fire of heavy guns might bo borne long 
enough to effect the object; particularly as tlie 
supporting hulks would afford cover for the 
boats. The cable was not ill-planned but wrong- 
ly placed. 

Another error appears to have been committed 
by the enemy, in not cutting away more of the 
woods below Fort Jackson. They removed 
enough to enable them to bring their guns to 
bear upon the channel of the river, but left 
enough for Captain Porter to string his bomb- 
schooners behind along the western shore, 
around the bend, completely out of sight. He 
had no need to see his object, for his bombs were 
purposely set to throw the shells high into the 
air and down upon the forts like falling meteors ; 
but their guns were designed to bo sighted and 
aimed at a visible mark. The forts were sta- 
tionary, and their exact position was known ; 
the schooners were movable, and could only be 
hit by chance, unless they could be seen. 

Besides the forts and the cable, the enemy had 
a fleet of fourteen or fifteen gun-boats, several of 
which were iron-clad. No one has thought it 
worth while to draw up a descriptive catalogue 
of these vessels, and none of them ventured far 
below the cable after Captain Farragut had got 
his fleet into the river. The sudden collapse and 
total destruction of most of them in the haze and 
darkness of an April morning, deprived our men 
of an opportunity of studying their construction. 
The greater number were probably river steam- 
boats, strengthened and armed. " The celebrated 
ram Manassas " resembled the Merrimac in ap- 
pearance, but was not a Merrimac in power or 
strength. One real Merrimac dashing down 
headlong among our wooden ships, might have 
given thom some damaging blows — might have 
driven them out of the river; but the builders of 
" the celebrated ram Manassas " had not a steam 
frigate to serve as the basis of their structure, 
and they knew her too well to trust her among 
Captain Farragut's steamers. There was also a 
huge thing called the Louisiana, built upon the 
hull of a dry dock, propelled by four engines, 
and armed with sixteen heavy guns. This pon- 
derous engine of war, was a main reliance of the 
enemy, but it was not finished in time to join in 
the fray. Fire-rafts and long river-scows filled 
with pine knots had been prepared in consider- 
able numbers for the entertainment of the attack- 
ing fleet. 

In the swamps, a mile and a half from Fort 
Jackson, two hundred "sharp-shooters" were 
stationed, whose chief employment was to scout 
along the banks of the river and overhear 
conversation in the fleet. It may have been 
these men who conveyed to General Duncan the 
most prompt and accurate information of everj"- 
movement of our ships, and every scheme of 
movement. Such information we knoiv that he 
had. The camp of the scouting sharp-shooters 
was not undisturbed during the operations, and 



many of them deserted : but, probably, enough 
of them remained to catch the talk of the sailors 
plying their bombs a few yards from the shore. 

The confidence of the enemy in tlieir ability to 
defend the forts against any possible force — 
against " the navies of the world " — was com- 
plete. It was long before General Duncan and 
Colonel Higgins believed that the fleet would do 
more than reconnoiter the position, or, perhaps, 
transfer the blockading station to the head of the 
passes. This of itself would have been an 
advantage worth considerable outlay. But their 
position they firmly believed was impregnable ; 
and, perhaps, it was impregnable. Certain it is 
that the forts were never taken. 

For the reduction of these forts, thus defended 
and supported, there was then in the Mississippi 
the most powerful expedition that had ever 
sailed under the flag of the United States. The 
strength and composition of the army we have 
seen; it consisted of fifteen thousand troops, 
most of them men of New England, fully provi- 
ded with the means of oflensive war, and led by 
a general endowed by nature with the ability to 
command, and trained by education to assume 
responsibilities and invent expedients. The fleet 
consisted of forty-seven armed vessels, of which 
eight were large and powerful sloops of war 
propelled by steam ; seventeen were steam gun- 
boats, most of them new, and all heavily armed ; 
two were sailing vessels, ranking as sloops of 
war; and twenty-one were mortar schooners, 
each provided with a bomb capable of throwing 
a shell weighing two hundred and fifteen pounds 
to a distance of three miles. The steam sloops 
carried from nine to twenty-eight guns each ; the 
the gun-boats five or six guns each. The whole 
number of guns and mortars was about three 
hundred and ten; many of the heaviest caliber, 
and of the newest construction. 

The fleet had been provided with everything 
which naval men could suggest as likely to 
increase its efficiency. We have heard a great 
deal concerning the imaginary somnolence of the 
heads of the navy department. I suppose this 
has been because the navy department has been 
conducted with such consummate energy and 
tact, and with a wonderful xmiformity of triumph. 
We can not praise enough our generals who 
have failed, nor censure with too nmch severity 
a department which has known little but success. 
Both in fitting out this expedition and in select- 
ing the men to command it, the department dis- 
played a foresight and ability that proved suffi- 
cient in the day of trial. There were only two 
mishaps: a delay in the arrival of the medical 
stores, and a scant supply of coal, owing to the 
month's detention in getting the ships over the 
bar. But General Butler, through the wise 
abundance provided by Captain George, was 
able to lend Captain Farragut a competent sup- 
ply of surgeons' stores and a thousand tons oi 
coal. 

The men in chief command of the fleet had 
spent their lives in the navy. Of the sixty-three 
years that Captain Farragut had lived, he had 
been fifly-two an ofiicer in the navy of tho 
United States. He was a boy midshipman as 
far back as the war of 1812, not undistinguished 
then in at least one bloody sea-fight. Though ad- 
vanced in years, his heart was young, his frame 
hght and active, his face and bearing those of a 



64 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



man of middlo age. " He was the youngest 
man in the Iloct," says General Butler; alert in 
climbing to the mast-head, quick in getting into 
bis boat, capable of long-continued, severe ex- 
ertion. A modest, quiet man, doing his duty 
with the minimum of show and fuss, using sim- 
ple words, preferring simple topics. Above all, 
he has a firm, brave, honest heart, that can not 
te dismayed by phantoms, and knows no fear, 
except the noble dread, lest in any way, through 
fault of his, the fleet intrusted to his care should 
disappoint the reasonable expectations of the 
country. The language of eulogy is so lavishly 
employed in these times, that it has acquired an 
opprobrious quality. But these things are 
literally true of this noble and valiant Tennesse- 
an. The country knows what he lias done ; but 
bis modest worth, bis utter sincerity, his entire 
and single-eyed devotion to his duty ; of these 
there will be much to tell, when the final record 
is made up. It is pleasing to notice in the pa- 
pers relating to the expedition, how perfect was 
the accord between the commander of the fleet, 
and the commander of the army. Whatever 
either could do, during their long connection, to 
forward the plans, or enhance the glory of the 
other, was done with generous promptitude and 
fullness. 

The month of delay at the mouth of the river 
bad been well spent. Assistant-engineer lioyt, 
of the Richmond, conceived the happy idea of 
protecting the boiler and engine of his ship by 
an extemporized armor of chain-cable, hung 
down from the gun-deck to below the water- 
line, and fastened by an ingenious system of 
bolts and cordage. The engineers of the Brook- 
lyn, Pensacola and Iroquois employed the same 
contrivance, which was supposed to be equiva- 
lent to a four-inch plating of iron. The boilers 
of otlier vessels were protected by an interior 
structure of sand-bags, layers of cable, bales of 
bagging, and logs. Howitzers were placed in 
tlie tops of all the sloops, protected b\' plates of 
boiler iron, or thick screens of cordage. Some 
of the vessels had small anchors at their yard- 
arms, to drop down upon the enemy's gun-boats 
and fire-rafts, and grapple them. Strong net- 
tings of cordage were drawn under the rigging, 
to prevent the cannon-balls, which might be 
stopped aloft, from dropping on deck. All the 
bomb-schooners, and several of the gun-boats 
and sloops received a coat of mud-colored paint. 
Last of all, to the masts of the greater number 
of the bomb-vessels were fastened large branches 
of trees, whicli, mingling wiih the tree-lops of 
the sheltering forest, would still more completely 
conceal them from tlie enemy. A few of these 
vessels, which were designed to be stationed in 
full view of Fort St. Phillip, were covered with 
a coating of the reeds which grew on the marshy 
level in front of the fort. All hands, under the 
direction of the engineers, labored incessantly to 
increase the oflensivo and defensive power of the 
fleet; and it was to this month's preliminary 
work tiiat the success of the expedition was 
chiefly owing. Not one precaution too many 
was taken ; every expedient was justified by its 
manifest utility in tlio hour of trial. The ab- 
sence of the chain-plating from the sides of the 
flag-ship proved the value of that mode of pro- 
tection ; tor, at a critical moment, the want of it 
nearly lost the ship. 



Jileanwliile, the pentlemon of the coast survey, 
under Mr. F. II. Gerdcs, specially detailed by 
Professor Baehe for the purpose, were busy in 
])reparing a cliart for tho guidance of Captain 
Porter in stationing his bomb-vessels. This wa3 
an indispensable preliminary, since nearly every 
bomb was expected to bo discharged upon a 
computed aim. The map was completed in five 
days, but not without diflicully and danger. 
"Frequently," says Mr. Gerdes, "the members 
of the party were compelled to mount their in- 
struments on tlie chimney-tops of dilapidated 
houses. In other places boats were run under 
overhanging trees on the shore, in whicli signal- 
flags were hoisted, and the angles measured be- 
low with sextants. It was very sali.sfactory, 
however, that the last measurement determined 
(leading to the flag-staf^' on St. Philip) agreed 
almost identically with the location given by the 
coast-survey several years ago. It seemed to 
bo a regular occupation of the garrison in the 
for(, to destroy, during the night-time, the marks 
and signals which were left daily by tho party; 
and for this reason, Mr. Gerdes caused numbered 
posts to be set in the river banks, and screened 
with grass and rccds so that they could not be 
found by the enemy in the dark. From these 
marks, which were separately determined, he 
was enabled to furnish to Captain Porter the 
distances and bearings from almost any point on 
the river to the forts, and by the resulting data 
the commander selected the positions for his 
mortar-vessels. * * * Twice Captain Por- 
ter ordered some of the vessels to change their 
positions when he found localities that would 
answer better ; the coast-survey party furnished 
the new data required. From the schooners, 
which were fastened to the trees on tlie river- 
side, none of the works of tho enemy were visi- 
ble, but the exact station of each vessel, and its 
distance and bearings from the forts, had been 
ascertained from the chart. The mortars were 
accordingly charged and pointed, and the fuses 
regulated. Thus the bombardment was con- 
ducted entirely upon theoretical principles, and 
;v.s such, with its results, presents perhaps a new 
feature in naval warfare." * 

The position of the enemy bad been repeat- 
edly reconnoitered. As early as March 28th, 
Captain Bell, in the gun-boat Kennebec, had run 
up near enough to inspt^ct the cable, and to dis- 
cover tlie out-lying batteries, and to draw a 
thundering fire from both forts. On the 6th oi 
April, Captain Farragut himself had a peep at 
them, Captain Bell showing the way. "About 
noon," says one who accompanied, " we came in 
sight of tho two forts, which could bo seen 
through the glass to be thronged with rebel offi- 
cers watching our movements. As we came 
within range, a white pufl" of smoke floated up- 
ward from Fort Jaclcson, and a hundred-pound 
rifle shell screeched through tho air, striking 
the water and exploding only about a hundred 
yards in advance of us. Flag-Officer Farragut 
and Flag-Captain Bell had meiinwhile gone aloft, 
where they sat in the cross-trees taking observa- 
tions. There was another white puff of smoke, 
and another monster shot came screeching 
toward us. This passed perhaps fifty feet over 
the beads of the gentlemen aloft, and struck th 



♦ Continontal Monthly, May, 1363. 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



water two-tliirJs across tho river. 'Back her,' 
from aloft, and wo drift down the river two or 
three ships' lengths, and only just in time, a 
third furious shell striliing and bursting in the 
water just at tho point wo had a moment before 
left. A low murmur of applause at this remark- 
ably excellent gunnery is drawn from our men 
as we steam slowly up again. Another shot 
falls short, another bursts prematurely (this one 
from a forty-two-pound smooth-bore), when 
' whiz-z-z-z,' with a fearful sound, a hundred- 
pound shell passes low down, between our 
smoke-stack and mainmast, the wind of its swift 
passage actually rocking- one of the ship's boats 
hanging on the side." * 

A third reconnoisance was more cheering, 
since it revealed tlie enemy employed in repair- 
ing the cable damaged by the rush of a sudden 
rise of tlie river. The sailors of the fleet held 
the cable in much contempt. 

The last day of preparation is usually the 
busiest. It was the 17tli of April. The fleet 
had all reached the vicinity of the forts on the 
evening previous, and the dawn of the 17th 
found the vessels anchored in a tempting huddle 
four miles below Fort Jackson. The rebels be- 
gan the fight. As the sun was rising, a flat- 
boat piled with wood saturated with tar and 
turpentine, was fired by them and cut adrift. A 
fresh wind was blowing up the river, and the 
descent of this magnilicent bonfire was slow. 
Nevertheless, it came, at length, roaring and 
blazing by, causing a sudden slipping of cables 
and a general anxiety to get out of the way. 
As it wag supposed to contain something of the 
torpedo kind, the Mississippi fired a few shells 
into it without eflect. A boat from the Iroquois 
soon tackled the monster, and, fixing three grap- 
pling-irons in the leeward end, towed it ashore, 
where it burned itself harmlessly away. The 
work of preparation then proceeded. The dress- 
ing of the masts of the mortar-boats was com- 
pleted, and they looked as if prepared for a 
festival instead of a bombardment. In the after- 
noon, some of the mortars were towed into posi- 
tion and fired a few experimental shells, frag- 
ments of which were exliibited the next day at 
New Orleans. Preparations were made by Cap- 
tain Porter for the proper reception of tire-rafts, 
in case the enemy should again employ them. 
All the boats of the mortar-fleet were ordered to 
be provided with axes, ropes, and grappling- 
hooks ; and early in the evening, the boats were 
reviewed, furnishing a pretty spectacle to the 
rest of the fleet; nay, a pair of spectacles. 

"The boats pulled round the Harriet Lane, 
the flag-ship of Captain Porter, in single line, 
each officer in charge being questioned as he 
passed, by Commodore Porter, as follows: ' Fire 
buckets? axes? rope?' A responsive 'Ay, ay, 
sir,' and t!ie commodore directed — 'Pull around 
the Mississippi and return to your vessels.' The 
Mississippi being a quarter of a mile ahead, the 
men gave way sturdily, in order to beat the rival 
boats. There were not less than one hundred 
and fifty boats under review, many of them ten- 
oared, and the whole scene reminded me more 
of a grand regatta than of anything else. 

" An hour after the review, the men had an 
opportunity to test, in a practical manner, their 

♦ Correspondence «f N&vo York ITtrald, May, 1862. 



means for destro3Mng fire-rafts, and they proved 
be an admirable success. A turgid column of 
black smoke, arising from resinous wood, was 
seen approaching us from the vicinity of the 
forts. Signal lights were made, the varied colors 
of which produced a beautiful effect upon the 
foliage of the river bank, and rendered the dark- 
ness intcnser by contrast when they disappeared ; 
instantly a hundred boats shot out towards the 
raft, which was now blazing fiercely and casting 
a wide zone of light upon tho water. Two or 
three of the gun-boats then got under way and 
steamed boldlj'' toward the unknown thing of 
terror. One of them, the Westfield, Captain 
Renshaw, gallantly opens her stcam-valvcs, and 
dashes furiously upon it, making sparks fly and 
timbers crash with the force of her blow. Then 
a stream of water from her hose plays upon the 
blazing mass. Now tho small boats lay along- 
side, coming up helter-skelter, and actively em- 
ploying their men. We see everything dis- 
tinctly in the broad glare — men, oars, boats, 
buckets and ropes. The scene looks phantom- 
like, supernatural, intensely interesting, inex- 
tricably confused. But finally the object is nobly 
accomplished. The raft, j-et fiercely burning, is 
taken out of range of the anchored vessels and 
towed ashore, where it is slowly consumed. As 
the boats return they are cheered by the fleet, 
and the scene changes to one of darkness and 
repose, broken occasionally by the gruff hail of 
a seaman, when a boat, sent on business from 
one vessel to another, passes through the 
fleet."* 

The next morning the bombardment began. 
At daylight, each of the small steamers attached 
to the mortar fleet took four of the schooners in 
tow, and drew them slowly up the river, the 
briglit green foliage waving above their masts. 
Fourteen of them were ranged in line, close 
together, along the western shore, behind the 
forest ; the one in advance being a mile and 
throL'-quarters below Fort Jack&ou. Six were 
stationed near the eastern bank, in full view oi 
both forts, two miles and three-quarters from St. 
Philip. The orders were to concentrate tho fire 
upon Fort Jackson, the nearest to both divisions; 
since if that were reduced St. Philip must ne- 
cessarily yield. At nine, before all the mortar 
vessels were in position. Fort Jackson began tho 
conflict, the balls plunging into the water a 
hundred yards too short. The gun-boat Owasco, 
which had steamed up ahead of the schooners, 
was the first to reply. In a few minutes, how- 
ever, the deep thunder of the first bomb struck 
into the overture, and a huge black ball, two 
hundred and fifteen pounds of iron and gun- 
powder, whirled alofl;, a mile in the air, with tlie 
"roar of ten thousand humming tops," and curv- 
ed with majestic slowness down into the swamp 
near the fort, exploding with a dull, heavy 
sound. The mortar men were in no haste. For 
the first half hour, they fired very slowly, while 
Captain Porter was observing the effect of tho 
fire and giving new directions respecting the 
elevations, the length of fuse, and the weight of 
the charge of powder. The calculatious were 
made with such nicety that the changes in the 
weight of tho charge were made by single 

* Correspondence of the New York Daily Thn^, 
May S, 1S02. 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



ounces, -svlien the uliolo cliar^^o was nearly 
twenty pounds. Tlio enemy, too, fired slowly 
and badly during the first half-hour. By ten 
o'clock, however, botli sides had ceased to ex- 
periment, and had bef^iin to work. 

The scene at this time was in the highest de- 
gree excitill,^' and picturesque. The rigging of 
the Union fleet, just below the mortar-vessels, 
was filled with spectators, from rail to mast- 
head, who watched with breathless eagerness 
the rise and descent of every shell,' and burst 
into the heartiest cheers when a good shot was 
made. Four or five of the gun-boats were 
moving about in the middle of the river, between 
the two divisions of mortars, keeping up a 
vigorous fire upon the nearer batteries. Both 
forts were firing steadily and well, their shots 
splashing water over the mortar-vessels on the 
eastern side, and throwing up the soft soil of the 
bank high over the masts of those on the west- 
ern. It is wonderful how many splendid shots 
may be made at a distant object without one 
hitting it. The balls fell all around the mortar- 
boats all day, and only two of thena were struck, 
and they not seriously injured. Not a man was 
hurt in the mortar-lleet the first day, except 
those who were sickened by the tremendous 
concussion which followed every discharge. The 
men stood on tip-toe and with open mouths to 
lessen the effect of the stunning sound. But 
men can got used to anything. They came at 
length to be able to sleep upon the deck of the 
mortar-boats, while the bombs were going off 
at the rate of two in a minute. It was exhaust- 
ing work handling tliose huge globes of iron ; 
and the men, too tired to go below, would lie 
down along the forecastle, fall instantly asleep, 
and never stir till they were called to duty 
again. 

Men can bear wliat no other creatures can. 
As the firing grew hotter, the very bees in the 
woods eonld not endure it, but came in swarms 
over the river, and buzzed about the ears of the 
men in the rigging of the fleet. It was too 
much even for the fis'.i in the river; large quan- 
tities of dead fish floated past, killed by the 
close thunder of the guns. Those who looked 
over the side at this new wonder did not see 
anj' of those sealed iiottles of news go bobbing 
by, whicli the Union men in the forts afterward 
Siiid they had sent down tlio river. 

When the fire had lasted an hour and a half, 
the scene was enlivened by a now feature. 
" Over the woods, beyond the forts," says a 
highly competent witness, " we can count seven 
or eight moving columns of smoke, which indi- 
cate that the rebel steamers are passing about, 
probably plotting some mischief against us. 
Soon one, and then another, and afterwards a 
third, appear in view, steering toward the forts. 
Before reaching them, howevtir, the steamers 
dash to cover again, and we see that three huge 
burning rafts have been set adrift. The swift 
current swoops them toward us ; below they are 
a brilliant blaze, and ri.siug from the flames is a 
spiral, funnel-shaped cloud of grayish black 
smoke, so dense as to shut fi-om sight tho fort 
and all else in that direction. Nearer and nearer 
these seemingly formidable rafts approach, but 
they occasion very little anxiety. "Wo know 
how to di.spose of them. Tho sailors from tho 
large sliipB are called out of the rigging, which 



they have been permitted to occupy as interested 
spectators of the battle, and in a short timo 
boats have the rafts in tow, and they are lauded 
on the river bank to burn away. We all confess 
to an admiration of these pyrotechnic displays. 
They add vastly to the piciurcsqueness of our 
surroundings, and are perfectly harmless. The 
brave fellows on the schooners did not relax 
their fire during this exciting interlude."* 

The day wore on. Noon came and pa.ssed. 
The charm of novelty subsided. At four, Gen- 
eral Butler's littlo steamer, Saxon, arrived, with 
the news that the general and his troops were 
below, and ready, and that the Monitor had sunk 
tho Merrimac. Captain Farragut telegraphed 
tiie tidings to the fleet. It had a wonderfully 
inspiriting eflect. 

An hour later, tho fleet was further cheered 
by witnessing an indication that the fire had not 
been ineffectual. Flames were seen bursting 
from Fort Jackson, and the fire of its guns 
slackened. It soon became evident that the cit- 
adel and the wooden barracks witiiia the fort 
were on fire, as the barracks of Fort Sumter had 
been, when it was defended by Major Anderson. 
Both forts ceased firing, and aU tho evening, till 
two o'clock the next morning, a magnificent 
confiagration illumined the scene. At half-past 
six, Captain Porter gave tiie signal to ceaso' 
firing, and the night passed in silence. Aft.T 
dark, he withdrew the six schooners from their 
exposed situation on the eastern shore, and sta- 
tioned them in the line upou the western side of 
the river. This appears to have been an e."CC0S3 
of caution, for the most effective shots made 
during the bombardment came from that division, 
and none of the vessels had been disabled. It 
is not improbable that the bombardment might 
have silenced the fort, if that division had been 
doubled instead of removed. Its transfer to tho 
shelter of the forest on the western shore, was a 
great relief to the enemy. 

The next morning disappointed those who 
had indulged hopes from the burning of tho 
wooden barracks. Fort Jackson was prompt 
and vigorous in responding to the fire of the 
mortars. At half-past eleven, a rifle ball crushed 
completely through one of the bomb schooners, 
and sunk her in twenty minutes, but harming no 
man. The Oneida, Captain Lie, was twice hit 
in the afternoon, as she was steaming about in 
advance; two gun-carriages were knocked to 
pieces, and nine men wounded. The fort, too, 
suftered so much, that its fire sensibly slackened 
long before the day closed. One shell bursting 
in the levee had rtooded the interior of the fort 
with water. Another broke into the officers' 
mess-room while they were at dinner, and tho 
ugly thing lay smoking on the ground between 
thtnn and the only door. They sprang away 
from it into the farthest corner of the apartment^ 
and remained clutched together in awful sas- 
pensj for half a minute, when the fuse went out 
without exploding the shell. Often, when a 
shell s;uik twenty icet into the miry delta near 
the walls, and exploding there, ti'.rew a whole 
eruption of black mud into the air, the Ibrt 
seemed to shako to its ibundations, and to 
threaten the total submersion of the garrison 
deep in tho black bowels of tho earth. The 



* Ntw York Times, May StL, 1862. 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



57 



men, however, were surprising!}'- cool after the 
first clay. They discovered that the bombs were 
terrible chiefly to the nerves and the imagination ; 
they could see thom coming and get out of the 
way; and beyond dismounting a gun now and 
then, the sliells did no essential harm — no harm 
which impaired the defensive power of the fort. 
The soft earth of the delta is easily stirred and 
shaken, but of all known substances it offers to 
cannon-balls the most completely baffling re- 
sistance. The fire of the fort often slackened 
and occasionally ceased ; but it was only to 
repair damages, which, however serious they 
may have seemed, were, in reality, not consider- 
able. 

General Butler and his staff arrived in the 
afternoon, and had hospitable welcome on board 
the flag-ship HartPjrd. Ho found that the faith 
of the naval men in the efficiency of the bombs 
had ebbed away under the monotony of the in- 
efiectual fire of two days. The cable was loom- 
ing up, as the ruling topic of conversation. The 
cable must be cut ; how shall we cut the cable? 
After dark, the general and some members of 
his staff went up the river in a small boat, to 
take a look at tliis inconvenient barrier. Tliey 
satisfied an enligiitened curiosity without molest- 
ation from the enemy; but on returning were 
fired upon by one of the mortar-boats, and 
narrowly escaped being hit. The cable did not 
strike these Yankees as being an obstacle abso- 
lutely insurmountable. 

All night, at long intervals, the mortars played 
upon the fort, each of tlie three divisions taking 
the duty in turn. A deserter, a Dan Rice circus 
performer from Pennsj-lvania, made his way 
through the swamps from Fort Jackson to the 
fleet, lighted and guided by the fire of the mor- 
ta.rs, often floundering in mire up to his arm-pits. 
He could only toll that the fort was well bat- 
tered by the bombs. He escaped in the contu- 
sion caused by the explosion of a shell Iq alarm- 
ing proximity to the magazine. 

The third day of the bombardment presented 
no new incident to the outside spectator. The 
moitar-men were beginning to grumble at; the 
inaction of the statelier vessels of the fleet, and 
the officers commanding those vessels were arri- 
ving at the conclusion, that the work of reducing 
the fort would, after all, devolve upon them. A 
council of captains was lield in the cabin of the 
Hartford. The prevailing opinion was, that the 
mortar experiment should be fully tried, and 
then the running-by attempted. Captain Farra- 
gut issued, in the course of the day the following 
order : 

" The flag-officer, having heard all the opinions 
expressed by the different commanders, is of the 
opinion that whatever is to be done will have to 
be done quickly, or we will again be reduced to 
a blockading squadron, without the means of 
carrying on the bombardment, as we have nearly 
expended all the shells and fuses and material 
for making cartridges. He has always enter- 
tained the same opinions which are expressed 
by Commodore Porter — that is, that there are 
three modes of attack, and the question is, 
which is the one to be adopted? His own 
opinion is that a combination of two should bo 
made, viz. : The forts should bo run, and when a 
force is once above the forts to protect the 
troops, they should be landed at quarantine from 



the gulf side, by bringing them through tho 
bayou ; and then our forces should move up the 
river, mutually aiding each other, as it can be 
done to advantage. 

" When, in the opinion of the flag-officer, the 
propitious time has arrived, the signal will be 
made to weigh and advance to the conflict. If^ 
in his opinion, at the time of arriving at the 
respective positions of the different divisions of 
the fleet, we have tho advantage, he will make 
the signal for ' close action,' and abide tho result, 
conquer or to be conquered, drop anchor or keep 
under way as, in his opinion, is best. Unless 
the signal above mentioned is made, it will be 
understood that the fir,st order of sailing wiU be 
formed after leaving Fort St. Philip, and we will 
proceed up the river in accordance with the 
original opinion expressed." 

But first, the cable must be cut. It was re- 
solved to attempt it that very evening. Petards 
had been brought from tho north for the purpose 
of blowing up the hulks which supported it, and 
Mr. Kroehl, the inventor of the contrivance, was 
on board the fleet to superintend the operation. 
The plan was to throw a petard on board one of 
the hulks, and discliarge it by an electric spark 
sent along a wire from a gun-boat. Captain Bell 
was detached to conduct the daring and difficult 
enterprise. Two of the gun-boats, the Pinola 
and the Itasca, were placed under his command, 
and they were to be supported by tiie Iroquois, 
the Kennebec, and the Winona 

The night was fortunately dark ; but the 
current, under the influence of the recent freshet, 
ran with unwonted velocity, and a gale was 
blowing down the river. At ten, the Pinola and 
the Itasca started on their errand, watched as , 
they passed into the darkness beyond the flag- 
ship, with an interest which no language can 
describe. The success of the expedition, the fate 
of New Orleans, was felt to depend upon that 
night's work. When tho two vessels had gone 
beyond the line of mortar-schooners, Captain 
Porter opened a fire upon the forts, so heavy, so 
continuous, that the previous bombardment 
seemed mere play in comparison with it. At 
some moments, eight shells were in the air at 
once, eight globes of fire, curving magnificently 
over the black outline of the forest. Amid this 
hurly-burl}'-, the Pinola ran up toward the cable, 
near the western shore, almost under the guns 
of the forts, and approached one of tho hulks. 
Mr. Kroehl was ready with his petard, and threw 
it successfully on board. But as the engine had 
been stopped at the same moment, the wind 
and current instantly carried the vessel down 
the stream, and the coil of wire on dec'ic ran out 
like the cord of a harpoon when the whale has 
been struck. Before the operator could discharge 
the spark, the wire snapped, and the attempt 
was a failure ; the Pinola whirling away down 
the river at a prodigious rate. Such was tho 
force of the gale and the current, and such tho 
darkness of the night, that it was half an hour 
before the vessel was again under command with 
her bow towards the cable. 

The Itasca, meanwhile, under Captain Cald- 
well, had tackled the next schooner, one near 
the middle of the river. The Itasca had no 
petard ; she trusted to dexterous hands and cold 
steel Steaming up close to tho hulk, men 
sprang on board, lashed the gun-boat securely 



58 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



to lier side, and then proceeded in a groping way 
to study the arrangement of llio cable. A rocket 
shot into the air. They were discovered. Both 
forts opened tire ; but, protected by the darkness 
and tlie smoke, tiio gallant men of the Itasca 
worked in perfect security, not a shot coming 
near enough to discompose them. Half an hour 
sufficed. The cable was severed with sledge and 
chisel ; the anchors of the hulks were slipped ; 
and instantly, gun-boat and hulk, borne away 
by wind and tide, swung round to the eastern 
shore, and grounded in the mud, under the 
fire of both forts. Luckily the hulk had the 
inside bcrtli ; still, the Itasca was hard and fast 
by tlie forefoot. By this time, however, the 
Pinola was at lier post once more, and came to 
the assistance of her consort. For an hour or 
more she tugged to get her afloat ; parted two 
five-inch hawsers without moving her; but 
started her at last with one of eleven inches; 
when both vessels came down in triumph witli- 
out a scratch. 

The success of the enterprise was complete ; 
for after the removal of the central hulk, the 
ctTrreut caused the one on each side of the aper- 
ture to swing away, so as to make an opening 
wide enough to admit several large ships abreast. 
A boat's crew of the Itasca's men puDed up two 
nights afier into the opening, sounded tlie 
channel, and found no obstruction whatever to 
the ascent of the tleet. Well done, Itasca I 

The last cheers died away. The bombard- 
ment subsided to its usual nightly average, and 
the forts were silent. Tlie moon rose. At two 
o'clock a tire-raft of immense extent came down 
before the north wind and rushing current, 
blazing, roaring, cracking, and rolling aloft the 
densest volumes of smoke. It passed by the 
mortar fleet, and whirled past the ilag-shii), only 
fifty feet from her side, scorching the men on 
deck, grazing the Scioto, and went on its way 
toward tlic lower divisions of the fleet. But the 
mortar-men grappled the monster in time, towed 
it on shore, and put out the fire. There was 
little sleep in the fleet that night. The sleepy 
but indomitable reporter of the Herald was 
obliged to lall back upon the reflection, that, if 
the ex[)cdition was successful, it would be a flue 
thing to talk about for the rest of his mortal life. 
Meanwhile, the work was rather wearing to a 
reporter, dozing within a few yards of a bom- 
barding fleet, and having to tumble up every 
few minutes to witness spectacles that had 
ceased to be interesting. Let us gratetully note 
that the gentlemen of the press, connected v^'ith 
the fleet and the army, served the public with 
signal lidelity. It is no joke to prepare, during 
fluch a week as this, in such circumstances as 
theirs, a mass of manuscript etptivalent to a 
hundred pages of foolscap, aljounding in passages 
highly pictorial, and tlie whole executed with 
an evident desire lo tell the truth. Would that 
these brave and laborious public sefvants were 
more justly rewarded. 

The fourth day of the bombardment passed 
without incident. Nearly four thousand shells 
had been lircd, and still the Ibrts replied with no 
perceptible diminution of vigor. It was a costly 
business, this bombardment, each shell costing 
the government not far from flfiy dollars. In 
the evening the enemy appeared to bo making 
acme attempts to repair the cable, but the fire 



of the gun-boats in advance kept tlicm from 
eflecling their purpose. Another fire-raft at 
night puled its ineffectual fire under the dexter- 
ous handling of the mortar-men. 

The fifth day dawned — April 22d. Captain 
Farragut had intended that this should be the 
last of the bombardment; but it chanced that 
two of the gun-boats had been so much injured 
as to require the assistance of all the carpenters 
in the fleet. He determined, therefore, to wait 
another day. The morning of the twenty-fourth, 
between midnight and day-light, if wind and 
weather were not too perverse, was the desig- 
nated time. The conduct of tho enemy showed, 
what their officers afterwards asserted, that they 
were aware of this determination before sunrise 
on the morning of the 23d. 

The sixth day the forts were silent. Not one 
gun was fired by them from morning till night. 
The bombardment was languidly continued. 
Green-horns said Foi't Jackson had been evac- 
uated. Others thought the enemy were draw- 
ing a new cable across the river above St. 
Philip. Men at the mast-head of the flag-ship 
reported twelve steamers above the forts, with 
steam up, moving about briskly. OccasionaUy 
one of these came down to the old cable, as if 
to reconnoiter, drew the fire of a gun-boat, and 
away up the river again. No inference could 
be drawn from the absence of a flag from Fort 
Jackson, for it had hoisted no flag ai'ter the first 
day. Evidently the rebels were there — were 
active ; but what they were doing could only bo 
guessed. 

We now know that they were collecting 
their strength for the final struggle, in perfect 
confidence of victory. The general commanding 
in New Orleans wrote that day to General Dun- 
can: " Say to your officers and men that their 
heroic fortitude in enduring one of the most 
terrific bombardments ever known, and the 
courage which they have evinced will surely 
enable them to crush the enemy whenever he 
dares come from undercover. Their gallant con- 
duct attracts tlio admiration of all, and will be 
recorded in history as splendid examples for 
patriots and soldiers. Anxious but confident 
families and friends are watching thein with firm 
reliance, based on their gallant exhibition thus 
far made of indomitable courage and great mili- 
tary skill. The enemy will try your powers of 
endurance, but we believe with no better success 
than already experienced." 

Duncan reported : " Heavy and continued 
bombardment all night, and still progressing. 
No furtiier casualties, except two men slightly 
wounded. God is certainly protecting us. We 
are still cheerful, and have an abiding faith ia 
our ultimate success. We are making repairs as 
best we can. Our barbette guns are still in 
working order. Most of them have been dis- 
abled at times. Tho health of the troops con- 
tinues good. Twenty-five thousand thirteen- 
inch shells have been fired by tho enemy, one 
thousand of which fell in the fort. They must 
soon exhaust themselves ; if not, we can stand 
as long as they can." 

Not twenty-five thousand shells: five thou- 
sand. Not a thousand inside the fort : only 
three hundred. The recreant must have pur- 
posely exaggerated. He could not but have 
known better. The whole number of shells 



REDUCTION OP THE FORTS. 



69 



thrown was five thousand five hundred and thir- 
ty-two; and when Duncan wrote, the grand, final, 
volcanic eruption of shells had not taken place. 

At sunset, on the evening: of the 23d, Captain 
Farragut had completed his arrangements for 
running bJ^ The fleet was in five divisions. 
The mortar-boats were to retain the position 
they Lad held during the bombardment, and 
cover the attack with the most rapid fire of 
which they were capable. The six small steam- 
ers attached to the mortar-fleet — the Harriet 
Lane, Westfield, Ovvasca, Clifton, Miami and 
Jackson, the last named towing the Ports- 
moutli — were to engage the water-battery be- 
low Fort Jackson, but not attempt to pass the 
forts. Captain Farragut, witli the three largest 
ships, the Hartford, Richmond and Brooklyn, 
were to advance upon Fort Jackson. Captain 
Bailey, second in command, with the Cayuga, 
Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katah- 
din, Kineo, and Wissahickon, were to proceed 
along the eastern bank, and close with Fort St. 
Philip. Captain Bell, commanding the third 
division, which consisted of the Scioto, Iroquois, 
Pinola, "Winona, Itasca, and Kennebec, was to 
advance in the middle of the river, and push on 
to the attack of the enemy's fleet above the 
forts. As night drew on, these divisions lay in 
their proper order, ready for the signal. 

The norther had died away. The night was 
still, and a very light southerly breeze spread a 
haze over the river. The occasional discharge 
of the bombs, like minute-guns over the dead, 
seemed but to deepen the hush and awfulness of 
the hour. The men went early to their ham- 
mocks, and the officers conversed in the low 
tone of men on the eve of battle. Lieutenant 
"Weitzel continued to impart to them the benefit 
of his local and professional knowledge. He 
advised them to run in as close as possible to 
the forts. The tendency of all men in battle, he 
said, was to fire too high, and the gunners of the 
forts had been for a week firing as high as the 
guus could be elevated. Besides, they would 
naturally expect the ships to keep at a distance, 
and would aim for the middle of the river. The 
ships, too, would certainly fire over those low 
forts, unless the officers took particular precau- 
tions to keep the guns depressed. General But- 
ler, Lieutenant Weijzel, and the rest of the staff", 
went on board the Saxon, leaving the naval offi- 
cers to "their repose. The general ordered steam 
to bo kept up upon the little steamer, that he 
might be in instant readiness to join the army at 
the head of the passes, if the fleet should pass 
the forts. 

Men sleep the night before their execution, 
but not the night before their trial. There was 
not much sleeping achieved in the fleet, though 
the stillness of death pervaded the sliips. "For 
myself,"' said a reporter, "I could not think of 
sleep, because of my anxiety for the success of 
the momentous undertaking which was soon to 
commence. I passed the slow hours in gazing 
at the dark outlines of the vessels. A death- 
like stillness hung over every ship, unrelieved by 
the faintest glimmer of lamp-light. There were 
no warm colors in the picture, and its cold, 
dreary aspect, was suggestive of any but pleas- 
ant thoughts." * 

* Times. 



At eleven, a signal from the Itasca announced 
that all was clear at the cable. Note, however, 
that the hulks, all but the one removed by the 
Itasca, were still in the river. 'Ihe opening was 
wide, but, in the darkness of the night, the 
hulks might prove troublesome, especially as the 
smoke of the ascending ships' guns would roll 
over them. It was just the night for smoke to 
seltle down, and, mingling with the fog, hang in 
an impenetrable mass over the river; for tho 
breeze was of tho lightest, and the atmosphere 
was heavy. In every respect, the night was 
favorable for an enterprise which darkness alone 
could render possible. The moou would peep 
over the horizon at three; but, by the time she 
had risen above the forest, it was hoped that her 
light would be welcome. 

At one, all hands were called. Hammocks 
were stowed. The last preparations were made. 
The low hiss of steam was heard at the boilers. 
At two o'clock, the signal to weigh anchor 
ascended to the peak of the flag-ship. " I had 
the honor," says tho Harald correspondent, "to 
hoist tho signal with -my own hands." He did 
himself the honor also to run by with tlie ship — 
he and the artist of Harper^s Weekly — gallant 
fellows both. 

Captain Farragut's division, close in to the 
western bank, was ready to move at half-past 
two ; but Captain Bailey, on tire eastern shore, 
with a more numerous division, was a little 
slower, and had some distance to go before get- 
ting abreast of Captain Farragut. At half-past 
three, the moou slanting a beam upon the swift 
river, the night still hazy, the ships began their 
simultaneous and silent advance. During the 
first few minutes, the verj' mortars held their 
breath. In the distance, away up near the forts, 
fires could be seen, perhaps to light the ships to 
their destruction. The fleet advanced against 
the stream not faster than four miles an hour. 
The distance from the starting -place to a point 
above the forts beyond the reach of their guns, 
was about five miles — two miles to the forts, 
one mUe under their guus, two miles to perfect 
safety. 

The mortars spoke. Everything had been pre- 
pared for the rapidest fire possible ; and the men 
surpassed all their previous exertions. Never 
less than five of those tremendous shells were in 
the air at the same moment ; often seven or 
eight ; sometimes, as many as eleven. The 
thunder, the roar, the crash, the smoke, the 
glowing bombs circling over the woods on the 
western bank — this was the mighty prelude to 
the opening scene. 

The fleet advanced in the appointed three 
lines, one ship close behind the other. Captain 
Bailey, on the eastern side, caught the first fire. 
His Cayuga had just passed through the open- 
ing in the cable, when both forts discovered him, 
and opened upon him with every available gun. 
The balls flew around the ship ; but the firing 
was much too high, and he was seldom hufled. 
As yet, the Cayuga was silent, and the rebel 
gunners, as they afterwards said, could see noth- 
ing whatever; they averred that they aimed no 
gun that morning at an object, except when the 
flash of Union guns gave them a momentary de- 
lusive target. Captain Bailey's division steamed 
on three-quarters of a mile under this fire, with- 
out firing a shot in reply, guided on the way by 



GO 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



the flashes (/ St. Philip. Runiihig in, at length, 
close under the fort, he gave them broadsides of 
grape and canister as he passed. The Pensa- 
cola, the Mississippi, the Varuna and the rest of 
the division followed close behind, each deliver- 
ing broadsides of small shot, and keeping stead- 
ily on in the wake of the Cayuga. All of the 
division passed the forts with little material dam- 
age, except the sailing Portsmouth, which could 
only get up near enough to Iho one broadside, 
and then, losing her tow, became unmanageable 
and drifted awa}' down the river. 

The middle division, under Captain Bell, was 
less fortunate, because it wa^ the middle division. 
Half of Captain Bell's ships, the Scioto, the Iro- 
quois, and the Pinola, went handsomely by, 
under the most tremendous tire; but the gallant 
Irasca, when directly opposite St. Philip, re- 
ceived a cataract of shot, one of which pierced 
her boiler, and she dropped helpless down the 
river. The Winona recoiled from the same 
annihilating fire, and retired The Kennebec 
was caught in tlie cable, and when disentangled, 
lost her way in the Stygian blackness of the 
smoke, and returned to her anchorage un- 
harmed. 

Captain Farragut, meanwhile, was having, to 
use his own language, " a rough time of it." 
The Hartford advanced to within a mile and a 
quarter of i'ort Jackson before receiving the at- 
tentions of the Ibe — Captain Farragut, in the fore- 
rigging, peering into tiie night with his glass — 
all silent below and alott. Then the fort opened 
upon the ship a lire that was better aimed than 
that which had saluted Captain Bailey. The 
ship was repeatedly struck. Captain Farragut 
anticipating the situation, had taken the precau- 
tion to mount two guns upon the forecastle, with 
which he now replied to the fire of the enemy, 
still steaming directly for the fort. At the dis- 
tance of half a mile, says the captain, " we 
sheered oil' and gave them such a lire as they 
never dreamed of in their philosophy." Broad- 
sides of grape and canister drove every man in 
tlie fort under cover ; but the casemate guns 
were in full play, and the ilarttbrd was well 
peppered. The Kichmoud quickly followed, and 
deluged the fort with grape and canister. The 
Brooklyn, the last ship of this division, had the 
ill luck to be caught by one of the cable hulks, 
and so lagged behind. How nobly she redeemed 
herselt, let Captain Craven relate : 

"I extricated my ship from the rafts, her 
head was turned up stream, and a few minutes 
thereafter she was fully butted by the celebra- 
ted ram Mana.ssas. She came butting into our 
starboard gangway, first firing from her trap- 
door when within about ten feet of the ship, di- 
rectly toward our smoke-stack — her shot enter- 
ing about five ibut above the water-line, and 
lodging in the sand-bags which protected our 
steam drum. I had discovered this queer-look- 
ing gentlemen while forcing my way over the 
barricade lying close in to the bank, and when 
he made his appearance the second time, I was 
so close to him th;tt he had not an opportunity 
to get up his full speed, and his efibrts to dam- 
age mo were completely trustrated, our chain- 
armor proving a perfect protection to our sides. 
He soon slid oil and disappeared iu the dark- 
ness. 

"A few minutes thereafter, being all this 



while under a raking fire from Fort Jackson, 1 
was attacked by a large rebel steamer. Our 
port broadside, at the short distance of oufy fifty 
or si.\ty yards, completely finished him, setting 
him on fire almost instantaneously. 

" Still groping my way in the dark, or under 
the black cloud of smoke from the fire-ralt, I 
suddenly found myself abreast of St. Philip, and 
so close that the leadsman in the starboard 
chains gave the soundings ' thirteen feet, sir.' 
As we could bring all our guns to bear for a few 
brief moments, wo poured in grape and canister, 
and 1 had the satisfaction of completely silencing 
that work before I left it, my men in the tops 
witnessing, in the flashes of their bursting shrap- 
nel, the enemy running like sheep for more com- 
fortable quarters." 

Quartermaster James Beck, he adds, stood by 
the wheel seven hours after receiving a severe 
contusion, and would not leave his post till pos- 
itively ordered. 

Most of the ships bad run by, and Captain 
Farragut, having escaped Fort Jackson, was ad- 
vancing toward the other fort, when a new ene- 
my appeared — the fleet of rebel gun-boats, lying 
in order of battle just above St. Philip. Captain 
Bailey, still leading the advance, in the Cayuga, 
was in the very midst of them before he was 
aware of their presence ; in the midst of thera, 
and so far as he could see, he was alone. It 
was a moment of anxiety. I'he rebel steamers 
ran at him, full tilt ; but by skillful steering he 
contrived to avoid their blows, and pouring 
eleven-inch solid shot into them, reduced three 
to surrender before the other ships of his division 
came up. " The Varuna and Oneida came dash- 
ing in," says Captain Bailey, "and suon made a 
finish of them;" but not until the Varuna had 
gone down in glory to the bottom of the river, 
firing as she sank. 

" After passing the batteries with the Varuna," 
says Captain Boggs, " finding my vessel amid a 
nest of rebel steamers, 1 started ahead, delivering 
her fire, both starboard and port, at every one 
that she passed. The first vessel on her star- 
board beam that received her tire appeared to be 
crowded with troop.s. Her boiler was exploded, 
and she drifted to the shore. In hke manner 
three other vessels, one of thera a gunboat, 
were driven ashore in flames, and allerward 
blew up. * * * xhe Varuna was attacked 
by the Morgan, iron-clad about the bow, com- 
manded by Beverly Keunou, au ex-na\'al officer. 
This vessel raked us along the port gangway, 
killing four and wounding nine of the crew, 
butting the Varuna on the quarter and again on 
the starboard side. I managed to get three 
eight-inch shells into her ab;ifi, her armor, as also 
several shot from the alter rifled gun, when she 
dropped out of action partially disabled. 

" While still engaged with her, another rebel 
steamer, iron-clad, with a prow under water, 
struck us in the port gangway, doing consider- 
able damage. Our shot glanced from her bow. 
She backed off lor another blow, and struck 
again in the same pLu^o, crushing in the side ; 
but, by going ahead fast, the concussion drew 
her bow around, and I was able with the port 
guns to give her, while close alongside, five 
eight-inch shells abaft her armor. This settled 
her, and drove her ashore in flames. 

'• Fmding the Varuua sinking, i ran her into 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



61 



the bank, let go the anchor, and tied up to the 
trees. 

"During all this time our guns were actively 
at work crippling the Morgan, which was mak- 
ing feeble eilbrts to get up steam. The fire was 
kept up until tlie water was over tlie gun-truck, 
when I turned my attention to getting the 
wounded and crew out of the vessel. Tlie 
Oneida, Captain Lee, seeing the condition of tlio 
Varuna, had rushed to her assistance, but I 
waved her on, and the Morgan surrendered to 
her, the vessel being in flames. I have since 
learned that over fifty of her crew were killed 
and wounded, and she was set on fire by her 
commander, who burned his wounded with his 
vessel." 

Thus, six of the enemy's fleet fell under the 
Varuna's fire before she sank, witli colors flying, 
to the river's bed. 

While Captain Farragut was still battling with 
the forts, ponriag broadsides into St. Philip, and 
receiving the fire of both, a huge fire-raft sud- 
denly blazed up before him, reveahng tlie ram 
Manassas pushing the raft upon the Hartford. 
In attempting to steer clear of the raft, the Hart- 
ford ran upon the bank, when the raft came 
crashing alongside. " In a moment," says 
Captain Farragut, " the ship was one blaze all 
along the port side, half way up to the main and 
mizzen tops. But, thanks to the good organi- 
zation of the fire department b^' Lieutenant 
Thornton, the flames were extinguished and at 
the same time we backed off and got clear of 
Ihe raft. But all this time we were pouring tlie 
shells into the forts, and they into us, and every 
now and then a rebel steamer would get under 
our fire and receive our salutation of a broadside. 
At length the fire slackened, the smoke cleared 
ofl', and we saw to our surprise that we were 
above the forts, and here and there a rebel 
gun-boat on fire. As we came up with them, 
trying to make their escape, they were fired into 
and riddled, so that they ran them on shore ; 
and all who could made their escape to the 
shore. The Mississippi and Manassas made a 
set at each other at full speed, and when they 
were within forty yards, the ram dodged the 
Mississippi and ran on shore, when the latter 
poured her broadside into her, knocked away her 
smoke-stack, and then sent men on board of her ; 
but she was deserted and riddled, and after 
a while she drifted down the stream full of 
water. She was the last of the eleven we de- 
stroyed." 

In the hurly-burly, Captain Farragut was 
struck by the wind of a passing shot, as he sat 
in the fore-rigging. Our friend of the Herald 
mentions that a shot, at the same time, knocked 
his cabin to pieces, shattered his effects, and 
nearly carried off the toilfully prepared manu- 
script of the bombardment. 

The scene when the fire caught the flag-ship, 
which was the crowning moment of the battle, 
is wholly beyond the imagination to conceive ; 
much more beyond the power of words to de- 
scribe. I shall not attempt the impossible. Tlie 
mere noise was an experience unique to the 
oldest officers. Twenty mortars, a hundred and 
forty-two guns in the fleet, a hundred and twenty 
on the forts ; the crash of splinters, the explo- 
sions of boilers and magazines; the shouts, the 
cries, the shrieks of scalded and drowning men. 



Add to this the belching flashes of the guns, the 
blazing raft, the burning steamboats, the river fuU 
of fire. The confined space in which the action 
was fought is to be also considered ; and, con- 
fined as it was, each ship was fighting its own 
battle, ignorant of nearly all that passed beyond 
its own guns. " The river," says Captain Far- 
ragut, " was too narrow for more than two or 
three vessels to act to advantage, but all were so 
an.xious, that ray greatest fear was that we 
would fire into each otlier, and Captain Wain- 
wright and myself were hollowing ourselves 
hoarse at the men not to fire into our ships." 
The time, too, was wonderfully short. The 
forts were passed, and the enemy's fleet de- 
stroyed in an hour and a half after the ships had 
left their anchorage. 

The Cayuga had been struck forty-two times 
in the melee, to the great damage of masts and 
rigging. But Captain Bailey, keeping on up 
the river, descried, in the gray light of the dawn, 
a camp upon the shore at the quarantine station, 
five miles above the forts, the rebel soldiers in 
full flight. The flight was promptly arrested, 
and the officers surrendered the position. The 
fleet came up, ship after ship, each received with 
cheers, each responding with cheers, as she 
dropped her anchor in line along the shore. 
The dead, thirty in number, were buried. The 
wounded, of whom there were a hundred and 
nineteen, were duly cared for. Repairs were 
made, and the rigging was spliced ; for Captain 
Farragut was going on in quest of other batteries 
that still blocked the way. Captain Boggs, 
hailed by his generous comrades the hero of the 
morning, being without a ship, undertook to 
convey a dispatch round to General Butler in 
an open boat through a tortuous bayou. Two 
gun-boats were detailed to remain at the quar- 
antine station and co-operate with the troops in 
the contemplated landing behind Fort St. Philip. 
At eleven in the morning. Captain Farragut 
gave the signal, and the fleet stood up the river — 
so slight was the damage received in the action. 
Except the Itasca and the Varuna, no vessel 
had received sufficieut injury to seriously impair 
her effective force — an escape that was wholly 
due to the darkness of the night. In daylight 
no wooden ship could have passed those forts; 
nor could iron-clads, if the forts had mounted 
such guns as the rebels now have at Charleston. 

Of those who witnessed the scenes of this 
memorable morning, none looked on with an 
interest so absorbing and profound as General 
Butler and a group of his stafl" officers — Major 
Strong, Major Bell, Lieutenant Weitzel, and 
Lieutenant Kinsman. They were on board the 
Saxon, which foDowed closely in the rear of 
Captain Bailey's division, until the shells from 
the forts, splashing in the water before and be- 
hind the little vessel, warned the general that 
he had gone far enough. " We forgot," says 
Major BeU, '' that Porter's twenty mortar-boats 
were vomiting from beside us a horrid discharge 
of shell ; we forgot that we were within the 
range of the enemy's and our own guns, and that 
the shefls of both were faUing about us — such 
was the fascination which lured us on behind 
the advancing ships." The Saxon had eight 
hundred barrels of powder on board — a fact of 
which her captain was painfully conscious. He 
was a happy man when the general gave the 



62 



REDUCTION OF THE FORTS. 



word to drop .1 little astern. From a point jast 
below the roach of the guns, the party on tho fore- 
castle of the Saxon saw tho fleet vanish into tho 
bond, and heard the tremendous uproar of the 
fire. "Combine," says Major Bell, "all you 
have over lieard of thunder, and add to it ail 
you have ever seen of lightning, and you have, 
perhaps, a conception of the scene." The}"- 
could not tell wiiat was happening, nor who was 
winning. Still more puzzed were they when 
the fleet seemed to have passed the forts, and 
the cannonade, which had slackened, broke out 
again with more fury than before. Then the 
forts were illumined with lire. Is it a burning 
ship? "No," said Lieutenant Weitzel, "it is 
too low for that." Portions of the burning raft, 
steamboats burning and hissing came by, the 
river at times covered with fire. The vessels 
that failed to get past drifted down, but could 
give little information of what had been achieved. 

The cannonade subsided at length, and the 
fiery masses disappeared from the river. It was 
the time of sunrise, but a pall of smoke hung 
over land and water. It was darker than mid- 
night. A breeze sprang up, and rolled the 
smoke from tho river. Startling change! In 
three minutes the sun of a bright April morning 
shone upon tlie scene. There lay the forts, with 
the flag of secession waving from both flag-staffs, 
hoisted to denote that they were still unsubdued. 
But, awny up the river, beyond the forts, could 
be seen the top-masts of the fleet, dressed in the 
6tar3 and stripes 1 Captain Porter's fleet of 
steamers were coming rapidly down the river, 
propelled by a report that the " celebrated ram 
Slanassas" was after them. " And sure enough," 
says Captain Porter, " there she was, apparently 
steaming along shore, ready to pounce upon the 
apparently delencoless mortar vessels. Two of 
our steamers and some of the mortar-vessels 
opened fire upon her, but I soon discovered that 
the Manassas could harm no one again, and I 
ordered the vessels to save their shot. She was 
beginning to emit some smoke from her ports or 
holes, and was discovered to be on fire and sink- 
ing. Her pipes were all twisted and riddled 
with shot, and her hull was also well cut up. 
She had evidently been used up by the squadron 
as they passed along. I tried to save her, as a 
curiosity, by getting a hawser around her and 
securing her to the bank; but just alter doing 
BO she faintly exploded, her only gun went ott', 
ana emitting flames through her bow port, like 
some huge animal, she gave a plunge and dis- 
appeared under tho water. Next came a steamer 
on fire, which appeared to be a vessel of war be- 
longing to tho rebels; and after her two others, 
all burning and floating down tho stream." 

This looked like victory. But was it a vic- 
tory ? The rebel flags waved defiance still ; and 
it soon appeared that three of the enemy's gun- 
boats had escaped destruction, one of wliich was 
the ponderous armed dry-dock, named tho 
Louisiana. True, she was a phantom — a useless, 
lumbering, unmanageable hulk. But this was 
not suspected. She was supposed to bo a 
steam battery of sixteen Merriinac power, capa- 
ble of crushing a poor little row of mortar-boats 
with one graze of her iron-clad sides. 

About seven in the morning. Captain Porter 
sent a gun-boat toward tho forts, with a flag of 
truce, to demand their surrender. Jive cannon- 



balls from one of them (the color of the flag not 
having been di.scerucd), gave an intimation of 
tlie answer that might be expected. The gun- 
boat retired, followed soon by a rebel oflicer 
with apologies, who also brought a reply to tho 
summons: No surrender, the forts will never 
surrender. The rebel gun-boats hovered about 
above the cable, drawing renewal of fire from 
the mortar-vessels. But the Louisiana ! "Word 
was brought by a gun-boat, which had given 
the rebel messenger a friendly tow up the 
stream, that Fort Jackson was transferring heavy 
guns to the monster, which, it was thought 
would soon be down among tlie residue of tho 
fleet. Captain Porter ordered the mortar-vessels 
to weigh anchor and hasten down the stream. 
Towed by the steamers belonging to them, they 
abandoned the vicinity of the forts, leaving the 
enemy to repose, and proceeded to tho head of 
the passes. Two killed, six wounded, one ves- 
sel sunk, four or five slightly injured were tho 
losses the mortar-fleet had sustained during the 
bombardment. 

General Butler, perceiving now that the time 
had come for the army to play its part, borrowed 
a light-draft steamer from Captain Porter, and 
hastened down the river to join his troops. 

During the next tliree days the forts were not 
molested and fired not a gun. Di,smouuted 
guns were replaced, some repairs were made, 
and the garri.son rested from their labors ; their 
numbers little diminished by the week's fire, the 
forts as strong in defensive power as when the 
bombardment began. Captain Porter in his 
first report remarked : " These forts can hold out 
still for some time, and I would suggest that the 
Monitor and Mystic, if they can ba spared, bo 
sent hero without a moment's delaj^, to settle 
the question." There was still a chance then, 
for General Butler and his impatient troops, who 
had been lying a week at tlie passes, hearing, 
when the wind blew down the river, the distant 
thunder of the bombardment. 

Up anchor, all the transport steamers! The 
sailing vessels in tow to remain in tho river 
under General Phelps. General Williams to 
command the troops on board the steamers. 

Sable Island, twelve miles in the rear of St. 
Philip, was the rendezvous. Twenty-four hours 
were lost by the grounding of the borrowed 
Miami, an ex-ferry-boat, drawing seven foel and 
a half. Captain Boggs reached the general with 
a dispatch Irom Captain Farragul, having been 
twenty-si.x hours in an open boat. " We had a 
hot time of it," wrote the flag-officer; "but 
after being on fire and run at by tho ram, and 
attacked by forts and rebel steamers, we suc- 
ceeded in getting through, taking all their gun- 
boats and tho ram to boot." lie added that he 
should '• push on" to Xew Orleans, leaving the 
forts to the tender mercies of the general. 

On tho 2Gth of April, the Twenty- Sixth Mas- 
sachusetts under Colonel Jones, the same Colo- 
nel Jones that led the Sixth Massachusetts 
through Baltimore on the 19th of April, 18G1, 
was crowded on board the Miami, with com- 
panies of the Fourth Wiscou.sin and Twenty- 
First Indiana, Cautiously tho little steamer 
felt her way in those shallows ; but when tho 
fort was still six miles distant, she grounded 
again. The thirty boats were manned and filled 
with troops. Guided by Lieutenant Weitzel, 



THE PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS. 



63 



and by Captain Everett of the Sixth Massachu- 
setts battery, who had been out reconnoitering; 
there during the bombardment, the boats pulled 
for the a\vamp3' shore. The baj'ous empty into 
the gulf at that point with such a rush of cross 
currents, Ihat, at times, it was all the boats 
could do to hold their own. Four miles and a 
half of fierce rowing brought them into Manuel's 
canal, which, running like a mill-race, forbade 
farther progress by rowing. Soldiers sprang 
into the water — a line of soldiers clutching the 
Bide of each boat ; and floundering thus breast- 
deep in water and mire, and phantom sharks, 
drew the boats by main force a mOe and a half, 
to a landing place five miles above St. Philip. 
By this laborious process two hundred of the 
troops were landed from the Miami in the course 
of the day, meeting no opposition. Lieutenant 
"Weitzel stationed part of them on the western 
bank, part on the eastern. Captain Porter had, 
meanwhile, placed some of his mortar-schooners 
in the bay behind Fort Jackson ; and thus, on 
the morning of the 27th, the forts were invested 
on every side — up the river, down the river, and 
in the rear. 

That night came the thrilling news that Cap- 
tain Farragnt's fleet was at anchor before New 
Orleans. General Butler, perceiving the abso- 
lute necessity of light-draft steamers for landing 
his heavy guns and ammunition, desiring also to 
confer with Captain Farragut, left General 
"Williams to continue the landing of the troops 
— a work of days — and went up to the city, 
accompanied by Captain Boggs. 

The same night, a picket of Union men on 
the western bank had a peculiar and joyful ex- 
perience. A body of rebel troops, two hundred 
V and 'fifty in number, came out of Fort Jackson, 
and gave themselves up. They said they had 
fought as long as fighting was of any use : but, 
seeing tlie forts surrounded, they had resolved 
not to be sacrificed upon a point of honor, and 
therefore had mutinied, spiked the up-river guns, 
and broken awaj'. The forts were still defensible, 
however, and could have given the troops a tough 
piece of work. But the next morning the offi- 
cers deemed it best to surrender. Captain Por- 
ter, who chanced to be present in the river, and 
had the means of reaching the forts by water, 
negotiated the surrender, granting conditions more 
favorable than were necessary. The officers 
were allowed to retain their side-arms and pri- 
vate property, and both officers and men were 
released on parole. While the negotiations were 
proceeding in the cabin of the Harriet Lane, the 
huge Louisiana was set on fire by her officers, 
and set adrift down the river. She blew up only 
just in time not to destroy the Union fleet, 
toward which she was drifting. The explosion 
was regarded by the army as a commentatory note 
of exclamation upon the favorable terms con- 
ceded to the garrison. Captain Porter justly placed 
in close confinement the officers who had done 
the dastardly act. 

The joy, the curiosity with which the troops 
entered the forts and scanned the result of the 
long fire upon them, may be imagined. St. Philip, 
beyond one or two slight abrasures, was abso- 
lutely uninjured. Respecting the damage done 
to Fort Jackson, different opinions have been 
published. It is important for our instruction in 
tlie art of war, that the truth upon this point 



should bo known and established. The testi- 
mony of Lieutenant Wcitzel will settle the ques- 
tion in the mind of every officer of the regular 
army. In a report to General Butler, dated May 
5th, 1862, Lieutenant Weitzcl says: 

" The navy passed the works, but did not 
reduce them. Fort St. Pliilip stands, with one 
or two slight exceptions, to-day without a scratch. 
Fort Jackson was subjected to a torrent of thir- 
teon-inch and eleven-inch shells during a hun- 
dred and forty-four hours. To an inexperienced 
eye it seems as if this work were badlj' cut up. 
It is as strong to-day as when the first f-hell ivas 
fired at it. The rebels did not bomb-proof the 
citadel ; consequently the roof and furring caught 
fire. This fire, with subsequent shells, ruined 
the walls so much that I am tearing it down and 
removing the debris to the outside of the work. 
Three shot fin-naces and three cisterns were 
destroyed. At several points the breast-high 
walls were knocked down. One angle of the 
magazine on the north side of the postern was 
knocked off. Several shells went through the 
flank casemate arches (which were not covered 
with earth), and a few through the other case- 
mate arches (where two or more struck in the 
same place). At several points in the casemates, 
the thirteen-inch shell would penetrate through 
the earth over the arches, be stopped by the 
latter, then explode, and loosen a patch of 
brick-work in the soufifoir of the arch about 
three feet in diameter and three-quarters of a 
brick deep, at its greatest depth. 

" To resist an assault, and even regular ap- 
proaches, it is as strong to-day as ever it was." 

If the splendid daring of Captain Farragiit 
and the fleet deprived General Butler of his lieu- 
tenant-generalship, it is but just to him and the 
army to declare, that it was the prompt and un- 
expected landing of the troops in the rear of St. 
Philip that caused the mutiny which led to the 
surrender. Fighting wins the laurel, and justly 
wins it, for fighting is the true and final test of 
soldierly merit : but a maneuver which accom- 
plishes results without fighting — that also merits 
recognition. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS. 

New Orleans did not rush headlong into 
secession in the Charleston manner. The doc- 
trine, that if Mr. Lincoln was elected the nation 
must be broken up, was not popular there during 
the canvass of 18G0 ; it was, on the contrary, 
scouted by the ablest newsp:ipers, and the influ- 
ential men. In 1856, the city had given a ma- 
jority of its votes to Mr. Fillmore ; in 1860, 
Bell and Everett were the favorite candidates. 
Bell, 5,215 ; Douglas, 2,996 ; Breckinridge, 
2,646; Lincoln, 0. The fact was manifest to all 
reflecting men, that the two states which de- 
rived from the Union the greatest sum-total of 
direct pecuniary benefit were Massachusetts and 
Louisiana. 

The great sugar interest, the Creole sugar- 
planters, who held the best of the cultivated parts 
of the state, stood by the Union last of all. 

But the first gun fired in a war, carries ccn- 



64 



THE PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS. 



viction to v;averin^ minds. Every man in tlio 
v/orld either is a secessionist, or could become 
one, who holds slaves, or who could liold slaves 
with an ea.«y conscience, or who can contem- 
plate the fact with indiflcrenco that slaves are 
hold. In this great controversy, the United 
States has not one hearty and perfectly trust- 
worthy adliereut on earth, who is not now an 
aliolitionist. Its actual and possible enemies are 
all who do not detest slavery, whether tijey be 
called secessionists, copperheads, or Knglishmen. 

So the " moral epidemic" spread in New 
Orleans, and it became nearly unanimous for 
secession. If the majority for secession was 
small in the city, it sufficed to make secession 
master. Union men were banished by law; 
Union sentiments suppressed by violence. I 
know not whether the horrid tale of the New 
England school mistress stripped naked in Lafiiy- 
ette Square, and tarred and feathered amid 
tlie jeers of tlie mob, is true or false. I presume 
it is false; but the foct remains, that neither 
man nor woman could utter a syllable for the 
Union in Xew Orleans in the hearing of the pub- 
lic, and live. A very few persons of pre-eminent 
etanding in the city, like the noble Durant, and 
I a few old men, who could not give up their 
\| country and the flag they had fought under in 
the days of their youth, were tolerated even 
with ostentation — so firm in the saddle did seces- 
sion feel itself 

Even the foreign consuls were devoted seces- 
sionists ; all except Sennr Ruiz, the Mexican 
consul, lleichard, the consul of Prussia, raised 
a battalion in the city, and led it to Virginia, 
wiiere he rose to the rank of brigadier-general, 
liaving left in New Orleans, as acting-consul, 
Mr. Kruttsmidt, his partner, who had married a 
daughter of the rebel secretary of war. The 
other consuls, connected with secession by ties 
of business or matrimony, or both, were among 
the most zealous adherents of the Confederate 
cause. This is an important fact, when we con- 
aider that two-thirds of the business men were 
of foreign birth, and a vast proportion of the 
whole population were of French, Spanish, and 
German descent. 

The double blockade — blockade above and 
blockade below — struck death to the commerce 
of New Orleans, a city created and sustained 
by commerce alone. How wonderful was that 
commerce! The crescent bend of the river 
upon which the city stands, a waving line seven 
miles in extent, used to display the commercial 
activity of the place to striking advantage. 
Cotton ships, eight or ten deep; a forest of 
masts, denser than any but a tropical forest; 
steamboats in bewildering numbers, mUes of 
them, pufBng and hissing, arriving, departing, 
and threatening to depart, with great clangor of 
bells and scream of whistles ; cotton-bales piled 
high along the levee, as far as the eyo could 
reach ; acres and acres covered with hogsheads 
of sugar; endless flotillas of flat-boats, market- 
boats, and timber-rafts ; gangs of negroes at 
work upon every part of the levee, with loud 
chorus and outcry; and a constant crowd of 
clerks, merchants, sailors, and bandanna-crowned 
negro women selling cotlee, cakes, and fruit. It 
was a spectacle without parallel on the globe, 
because the whole scene of the city's industry 
was pre.seutcd in one view. 



"What a change was wrought by the mere 
announcement of the blockade ! The cotton 
ships disappeared; the steamboats wore laid 
away in convenient bayous, or departed up the 
river to return no more. The cotton mountains 
vanishetl ; the sugar acres were cleared. The 
cheerful song of the negroes was seldom heard, 
and grass grew on the vacant levee. The com- 
merce of the city was dead ; and the forces 
hitherto expended in peaceful and victorious 
industry, were wholly given up to waging war 
upon the power which had called that indu.stry 
into being, defended it against the invader, pro- 
tected and nourished it for .sixty years, guiltless 
of wrong. The young men enlisted in the army, 
compelling the reluctant stevedores, impressing 
with violence the foreign born. At the Ex- 
change, books were opened for the equipment 
of privateers. For the fir.st six months there 
was much running of the blockade, one v&ssel 
in three escaping, and the prolit of the third 
paying for the two lost. Ilollins was busy in 
getting ready a paltry fleet of armed vessels for 
the destruction of the blookaders, and there was 
rare hammering upon rams and iron-clad steam- 
boats. Seventeen hundred families meanwhile 
were daily supplied at the " free market." Look 
into one wholesale grocery store through the 
following advertisement : 

" We give notice to our friends generally, 
that we have been compelled to discontinue the 
grocery business, particularly for the reason that 
we have now no goods for sale, except a little 
L. F. salt. Persons ordering goods of us must 
send the cash to fill the order, unless they have 
money to their credit. Four of our partners 
and six of our clerks are in the army, and hav- 
ing sold out our stock of goods on credit, we 
have no money to buy more to be disposed of 
that way." 

A word or two upon the "Thugs" of New 
Orleans, the party controlling municipal affaira 
for some years past. New Yorkers are in a 
position to understand this matter with very lit- 
tle explanation, sinco the local politics of New 
Orleans and of New York present the same 
essential features, the same dire results of the 
fell principle of universal sufl'rage. Martin Van 
Buren predicted it all forty-two years ago, when 
opposing the admission to the polls of every man 
out of pri,son who was twenty-one years of age. 
Ho said then, what we now know to be true, 
that universal sufirago, in largo commercial cit- 
ies, would make those cities a dead weight upon 
the politics of the states to which they belong; 
would rcpell from local politics the men who 
ougiit to control them; would consign the cities 
to the tender mercies of the Dexterous Spoiler,* 
who could only bo dethroned by bloody revolu- 
tion. Is it not so? Who is master of certain 
great cities hut Dexterous Spoiler, supported by 
the dollars of Head Jew? 

It must bo so under universal suffrage. Here 
we have, say, ten thousand ignorant voters; 
ignorant, many of them, of the ver}' language of 
the country ; ignorant, most of thtnn, of the art 
of reading it. These ten thousand are thirsty 
men, hangors-on of our six or seven thousand 
groggeries, the keepers of which are as com- 



* See Martin Van Buioii's .'irsiiiiient in Parton's Lilb 
of Jncksuu, iii., 129. 



THE PANIC m NEW ORLEANS. 



60 



pletely the raiaious and servants of Dexterous 
as though they were in his pay. New Yorkers 
know why this is so. Here, then, are sixteen or 
seventeen thousand voters to begin with, as cap- 
ital-stock and basis oi' pohtical business. Add 
to these five thousand of those lazy, thouo-htless 
men in the carpeted spheres of life, who can 
never be induced to vote at all; some even 
pluming themselves upon tlie fact. So there are 
twenty thousand votes or more, which Dexter- 
ous can, in all cases, and in all weathers, count 
upon with absolute certainly. Then there are 
sundry other thousands who can only bo got to 
the polls by moving heaven and earth; which 
is an expensive process, involving unlimited 
Roman candles and endless hirings of the Cooper 
Institute. The mnjority of these, in most elec- 
tions, allow themselves to remain in the scale 
that weighs down struggling Decency. In a 
word, our Dexterous Spoiler, by his possession 
of the ten thousand voles which a justly re- 
stricted suffrage would exclude, controls the pol- 
itics of the city. Probably, the mere exclusion 
of all voters who can not read would render the 
politics of cities manageable in the interests of 
Decency. In the absence of all restriction, the 
Spoiler mu^l bear sway. 

As in New York, so in New Orleans ; only 
worse. The curse of universal suffrage in New 
York is mitigated by several circumstances, 
which have hitherto sufficed to keep anarchy at 
bay. First, it is still true in New York, that 
when the issue is distinct and sole between De- 
cency and Spohation, and there has been the due 
moving of heaven and earth, the party of Decen- 
cy can always secure a small majority of the 
whole number of votes. Secondly, one evening, 
about fifteen years ago, New York rowdyism fell, 
weltering in blood, in Astor Place, before the 
fire of the Seventh regiment. It has known 
three days of resurrection since, owing to a com- 
bination of causes never likely to be again com- 
bined. Third, New York has had the supreme 
happiness of rescuing its police from all control 
of the Spoiler. The police department has been 
taken out of politics, and has daily improved 
ever since, until now there is no better police in 
the world, and no city where the reign of order 
is more unbroken — where life and property are 
more secure. Again : the alliance between the 
Spoiler and the Banker compels the Spoiler to 
stop short of attempting the manifestly anarchic. 
The Spoiler, too, has his moneys and his usances, 
and values the same. 

What New York would have been without its 
small, safe majority ou the side of Decency, 
without the Astor Place riot, and without tlje ti- 
midity of Wall street, thai New Orleans was, for 
many years before the rebellion ; with all evil 
tendencies accelerated and aggravated by the 
presence of slavery. New Orleans was the 
metropolis of the cotton kingdom, the receptacle 
of its wealth and of its refuse, the theater of its 
display and the pool of its abominations. 

Now, the peculiarity of the cotton kingdom — 
that which chiefly distinguishes it from the other 
kingdoms of the earth, is this : In other king- 
doms wickedness is committed, but is admitted 
to be wickedness ; it is reprobated and warred 
upon; it hides itself, and is ashamed. But the 
cotton kingdom distinctly, and in the hearing of 
the whole world, adopted wickoduess as its por- 



tion and speciality. It did not say, Evil be 
thou our Good; but our Evil is not evil; it is 
good, beneficent, and even Divine. In the case 
of Cain versus Abel, the cotton kingdom, with 
the utmost possible clearness and decision, sup- 
ported Cain. If the " difficulty " between tiie 
brothers had occurred in the rotunda of the St. 
Charles hotel, Public Opinion would have clap- 
ped Cain on the back, and called iiim a high- 
spirited, chivalrous young fellow, a worthy son 
ofoneof our first fli mill es. It was the unwrit- 
en law of New Orleans, that if one man .said to 
another man an ofl'ensive word, the proper pen- 
was instant assassination ; which was precisely 
the principle upon which Cain acted. In New 
Orleans, every man carried about his person the 
means of executing this law with certainty and 
dispatch. 

Doctor McCormick, of the United States armv. 
medical director at New Orleans during General 
Butler's administration, familiar with the city in 
former years, related to mo the following anec- 
dote: — 

Time — about ten years before secession. 
Place — the Charity Hospital at New Orleans, in 
charge of Doctor McCormick. A frien d from the 
Nortli visited the doctor at the hospital, and 
went the rounds with him one morning. 
Among the patients were four men wounded in 
aflrays during the previous evening and night ; 
two mortally, whose wounds the doctor dressed. 
The morning tour completed, the friends were 
leaving the building, when they met a man 
coming in who had been just stabbed in the eye, 
in a street quarrel. The doctor dressed his 
wound, and again the friends turned to go. 
Before reaching the front-door, they met a man 
with four balls in his chest, received in an 
affray. His wounds were dressed, and the gen- 
tlemen then succeeded in making their escape. 

" Doctor," exclaimed the visitor, aghast, " is 
this common?" 

"Not to this extent," replied the doctor, "not 
six a day. But two or three a day is common : 
that is about the daily average during the 
season." 

" Well," said his friend, " this is no place for 
me. I meant to stay a week ; but I leave New 
Orleans to-night," 

Duels, too. Miss Martineau's "fifteen duels 
on one Sunday morning " was probably no ex- 
aggeration. Doctor McCormick declared, that 
he has himself witnessed six in one day from a 
window of the United States barracks. He has 
seen men in mortal combat while driving along 
a road near the city with his wife ; seen them 
fighting as he passed; seen the dead body of one 
of them as he returned. 

" What could the fools find to fight about ?" 
asks the incredulous northern reader. Hear a 
very competent witness. 

" Young men meet around the festive boaril 
The wine-cup passes freely." The climate fa- 
vors drinking ; men can drink three times the 
quantity of wine that a northern head can bear. 
" Conversation becomes a confusion of unmean- 
ing words. One declares that General Lopez 
was a patriot and martyr to the cause of free- 
dom and the worl.l, and another that he was an 
adventurer, and in bowing his neck to the 
garrote, only paid the penalty of his rashness. 
One avers that Isao^Ua Cathohcu, mother to the 



66 



THE PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS. 



baby priiico of the Asturias, is another Semira- 
mis — worse only — having had Christian bap- 
tism. Anotlier, with equal warmth, contends 
that thi-5 same qujeu-inolUor, patrotiods of all the 
bull-tights, and quecu of the Antilles, is a wed- 
ded Vestal, more chaste than the icicle which 
hangs on Diana's temples, purer than Alpine 
snows. One cries ' God save Spain's royal mis- 
tress;' and another swears that an anointed 
Amazon, who rides a-straddle through the 
streets, shall have have no vivas from him. A 
slap in the face ! The rising of the sun sees 
them on the battle-field, arrayed all in white. 
Under the spreading oaks of Gentilly, they 
crush the daises beneath their feet, and brush 
dew from the lilies tiiat brigluly blossom there. 
Is there none lo whisi)er peace? None. There 
is a click of the swift trigger, and a hiss of the 
leaden death; a spring into the air; a yell, a 
groan, a gurgling of the purple life-current ; 
and it is done 1 What now? Chains and a 
prison for the slayer ? Neither ; but honor 
and laudation for him who lias had the bravery 
to kill."" 

" Honor and laudation," says our narrator, 
await tlie murderer. Even so. Let me relate 
one of Dr. McCormick's duel anecdotes ; he hav- 
ing witnessed the scenes he described, and as- 
sisted at them as attending surgeon. The 
events occurred not in New Orleans, but the par- 
ties well known there, all of them being men of 
wealth and great note in the cotton kingdom. 
Time, 1841. 

The principals were Colonel Augustus Alston, 
a graduate of West Point, and Colouel Leigh 
Reed ; planters, both ; chief men of their county ; 
politicians, of course. Long-standing, bitter 
feud between the families, aggravated by polit- 
ical aspirations and disappointments; the whole 
county sympathizing with one or the other — 
eagerly, wildly sympathizing. The quarrel re- 
lieved the tedium of idleness ; served instead of 
morning paper to the men, supplied the want 
of new novels to the women. At length, one 
of the Alston party, on slight pretext, challenged 
Reed; which challenge Reed refused to accept; 
no man but Alston for his pistol. Another 
Alstouian challenge, and yet another he declined. 
Then Alston himself sent a challenge — Alston, 
the best shot in a state whose citizens cultivated 
the deadly art with tho zeal of saints toiling after 
perfection. This challenge Lee instantly ac- 
cepted. Weapon, the ritie, hair-trigger, ounce 
ball. Men to stand at twenty paces, back to 
back ; to wheel at the word One ; to fire as 
soon as they pleased after the word ; the second 
to continue counting as far as five ; after which, 
no firing. 

Reed was a slow, portly man — a good shot if 
he could lire in his own way without this pre- 
liminary wheeling, lie regarded himself as a 
dead man ; he felt that he had no chance what- 
ever of his life on such terms — not one in a 
thousand. lie bought a coffin and a shroud, 
and arranged all his affairs for immediate deatli. 
The day before tho duel, his second, a captain 
in tho army, took him out of town and gave him 
a long drill in the wheel-and-lire exercise. The 
pupil was inapt — could not get the knack of 
wheeling. If ho wheeled quickly, his aim was 

♦ New Orleans Bel'u, June Sd, 1863. 



bad ; if ho wheeled slowly, there was no need of 
his aiming at all, for his antagonist was as ready 
with heel as with trigger, from old training at 
West Point. " Leigh," said the captain, " you 
must wiieel quicker or you've no chance." 
Stimulated with this remark, Leigh wheeled with 
velocity, and fired with such success as to bring 
down a neighbor riding along the road. 

Reed sent his coffin and shroud to the field. 
Mrs. Alston accompanied her husband. " I have 
come," she said, " to see Leigh Reed shot." 

The men were placed, and the seconds counted 
one. In swiRly wlieeling, the light cape of 
Alston's coat touched the hair-trigger, and his 
ball whistled over Reed'-s head, who stood 
amazed, with rifle half presented. The word 
two, recalled him to himself; he fired ; and 
Alston fell pierced through the heart. Mrs. 
Alston flew to her fallen husband, and found the 
ball which had slain him. In the sight and 
hearing of all the witnesses of the duel, her dead 
husband bleeding at her feet, she lilted up the 
ball, and with loud voice and lierco dramatic 
gesture, swore that that ball should kill Leigh 
Reed. 

Now, observe the conduct of the " chivalry" 
upon this occasion. Note the Public Opinion 
of that community. Were they touched by 
Reed's inagnilicent courage ? Were they moved 
to gentler thoughts by Alston's just but lamen- 
table end ? Tho Montagues and Capulets were 
reconciled over dead Juliet and Romeo : 

"O bvother Montague, give me thy hand ; 
This is my (laughter's jointure ; lor no more 
Ciin I demand." 

Not so, the chivalry of the South. A few 
days after, ten of the Alston party, headed by 
Willis Alston, brother of tho deceased, drew 
themselves up, rifle in hand, bowie-knife and 
pistol in belt, before the hotel in which tho ad- 
lierents of Reed were assembled congratulating 
thch' chief They sent in a messenger challeng- 
ing ten of the Reed party to come forth and fight 
them in the public square. Much parleying 
ensued, which ended in the refusal of the Reeds 
to accept the invitation. 

A few days after. Reed was seated at the table 
of the hotel, iu the public dining-room, at which 
also sat men, ladit's and cliildren — a large 
number — Dr. AlcUorinick among them. Willis 
Alston entered, took his stand opposite Reed, 
drew a pistol, and shot him through the liver. 
The wound was not mortal. After some mouths 
of confinement, Reed was well again, and went 
about as usual, the bloody-minded Alston still 
loose among the people. They met at length 
in the streets of the ,town, and Alston shot him 
again, inflicting this time a mortal wound. 

Then, there was a hideous farce of a trial. 
Every man in the court-room, except two, was 
armed to the teetli. Those two were the judge, 
and the principal witness. Doctor MeCormick. 
The jurymen all had a rilio at their side in the 
jury-box — twelve men, twelve rifies. The 
prisoner had two enormous horse-pistols pro- 
truding from his vest. The spectators were all 
armed ; the Reeds to prevent a rescue in case of 
conviction, tho Alstons to protect their man in 
case of acquittal. Tiie counsel for the accused 
admitted that their client had shot the deceased, 
but contended that the wound then inflicted was 



THE PANIC IN NEW ORLEANS. 



67 



not tbe cause of his death. Doctor McCormick 
was called, and took the stand amid the deepest 
sUence, the prisoner glaring at him like the wild 
beast he was. 

•' Is it your belief that the deceased came to 
his death from tlie wound inflicted by the pris- 
oner at the bar ?" 

" I have no belief on the subject," replied the 
witness. "It is not a matter of belief, but of 
fact. I know he did." 

That night, the trfal not yet concluded, the 
prisoner deemed it best to escape from prison. 
He went to Texas ; met on the road there an 
old enemy, whom he shot dead in his saddle ; 
and on reaching the next town, boasted of his 
exploit to the murdered man's friends and 
neighbors. Thirty of them seized him, tied him 
to a tree, and shot hira, all the thirty firing at 
once, to divide the responsibility among them. 
And so the brute's career was fitly ended. 

Nor can we pity the murdered Reed, brave as 
he was ; for he, too, was a man of blood. They 
tell of an early duel of his so incredibly savage, 
that, in comparison with it, General Jackson's 
little affair with Charles Dickinson seems the 
play of boys. Picture it. Two men standing 
sixty feet apart, back to back, each armed with 
two revolvers and a bowie-knife. They are to 
wheel at the word, approach one another firing, 
fire as fast as they choose, advance as rapidly as 
they choose. Pistols failing, then the grapple 
and the knife. As it was arranged, so it was 
done. Reed fired his last charge, but his anta- 
gonist was still erect. Tbe men were within 
six feet of one another, when Reed, bleeding fast 
from several wounds, collected his remaining 
strength, and threw his pistol, with desperate 
force, in his antagonist's face, and felled him with 
tbe blow. Reed staggered forward and fell upon 
him. Drawing his knife he was seen feeling for 
the heart of his enemy, and having found it, he 
placed the point of the knife over it and tried to 
drive it home. He could not. Then holding 
the knife with one hand he tried to raise himself 
up with the other, so as to fall upon the knife, 
and kill his adversary by mere gravitation. 
This amazing spectacle was too much even for 
the seconds in a southern duel, one of whom 
seized the man by tbe feet and drew him oS". 
It was found that bis antagonist was dead where 
he lay ; but Reed recovered to figure in another 
of these savage conflicts, and to die by violence 
in tbe streets. 

"We may ask, with Dr. McCormick's friend, 
" "Were such things common in the ' cotton 
kingdom ?' " The doctor's answer will suffice : 
" Not to this extent ;" but scenes like these 
were common ; and the spirits, the habits, tbe 
cast of character, which gave rise to them, were 
all but universal. What, then, must New 
Orleans have been, tbe chief city of that king- 
dom, with a pobce subject to the city govern- 
ment, the city government controlled by 
" Thugs," and tbe " Thugs" managed by the 
Spoiler, in aUiance with tbe money-changer? 

We return to the morning of April 24tb, on 
which the Union fleet ran past the forts. 

Never before were the people of New Orleans 
so confident of a victorious defense, as when 
they read in the newspapers of that morning 
the brief report of General Duncan, touching 
ihe twenty-five thousand ineffectual shells. 



Always the city had implicitly relied on its 
defenses; but after six days of vain bombard- 
ment, the confidence of tbe people was such, 
that news from below had ceased to bo very in- 
teresting, and every one went about his business 
as though nothing unusual was going on. 

At half-past nine in tbe morning, late risers 
still dawdling over their coffee and Bella, the 
bell of one of the churches, which had been 
designated as tbe alarm bell, struck the concerted 
signal of alarm — twelve strokes four times re- 
peated. It was the well-known summons for 
all armed bodies to assemble at their head- 
quarters. There was a wild rush to tbe news- 
paper bulletin-boards. 

"It is reported that two of the enemy's 
gun-boats have succeeded in passing the 

FORTS." 

This was all that came over the wires before 
Captain Farragut cut them ; but it was enough 
j to give New Orleans a dismal premonition of tho 
coming catastrophe. The troops flew to their 
respective rendezvous. Tbe city was filled with 
rumors. The whole population was in the 
streets all day. The bulletin-boards were be- 
sieged, but nothing could bo extracted from 
them. There were but twenty-eight hundred 
Confederate troops in the city; and General 
Lovell, their commander, had gone down to tbe 
forts tbe day before, and was now galloping 
back along the levee like a man riding a steeple- 
chase. The militia, however, were numerous ; 
conspicuous among them the European Brigade, 
composed of French, English and Spanish bat- 
talions. A fine regiment of free colored men 
was on duty also. But, in the absence of the 
general, and tbe uncertainty of the intelligence, 
nothing was done or could be done, but assem- 
ble and wait, and increase the general alarm by 
the spectacle of masses of troops. 

The newspapers of tbe afternoon could add 
nothing to the intelligence of the morning. But, 
at half-past two, General Lovell arrived, bringing 
news that the Union fleet bad passed the forts, 
destroyed the Confederate gun-boats, and was 
approaching tbe city. Then the panic .set in. Stores 
were hastily closed, and many were abandoned 
without closing. People left their bouses, for- 
getting to shut the front-door, and ran about the 
streets without apparent object. There was a 
fearful beating of drums, and a running together 
of soldiers. Women were seen bonnetless, with 
pistol in each hand, crying: "Burn tbe city. 
Never mind us. Burn the city." Officers rode 
about impressing carts and drays to remove the 
cotton from store-houses to tbe levee for burning. 
Four millions of specie were carted from the 
banks to tbe railroad stations, and sent out of 
tbe city. Tbe consulates were filled with people, 
bringing their valuables to be stored under tbe 
protection of foreign flags. Traitor Twiggs 
made baste to fly, leaving bis swords to tbe care 
of a young lady — the swords voted him by 
Congress and legislature for services in Mexico. 
Other conspicuous traitors followed his prudent 
example. The authorities, Confederate and mu- 
nicipal, were at their wit's end. ShaU tbe troops 
remain and defend the city, or join tho army of 
Beauregard at Corinth ? It was concluded to 
join Beauregard ; at least to get out of the city, 
beyond the guns of tbe fleet, and so save the 
city from bombardment. Some thousands of tho 



03 



NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 



militia, it appears, left with the twenty-eight 
hundred Confederate troops, choking tho avenues 
of escape with multitudinous vehicles. Otlier 
thousands remained, dotting their uniforms, ex- 
changing garments even with negroes, and re- 
turned to their homes. Tho regiment of free 
colored men would not leave the city — a fact 
which was remembered, some mojtha later, to 
their advantage. 

At sucli a time, could the Thugs be inactive ? 
To keep them in chock, to sav^e tlio city from 
conflagration and plunder, tlio mayor called upon 
the European Brigade, and placed the city under 
their charge. They accepted the duly, repre.ssed 
the tumult, and prevented tho destruction of the 
town, threatened alike by frenzied women and 
spoliating rowdies. 

So passed tho afternoon of Thursday, April 
24th. I indicate only the leading features of the 
scene. The reader must imagine the rest, if he 
can. Only those who have seen a large city 
suddenly driven mad with apprehension and 
rage, can form an adequate conception of the 
confusion, the hurry, the bewilderment, the ter- 
ror, the fury, that prevailed. Such denunciations 
of Duncan, of the governor of the state, of the 
general in command! Such maledictions upon 
the Yankees! Such a strife between those who 
wished New Orleans to be another Moscow, and 
those who pleaded for the liomes of fifty thou- 
sand women and children ! Such a hunting 
down of the few Union men and women, who 
dared to display their exultation 1 Such a threat- 
tening of instant lamp-post, or swifter pistol 
bullet, to any who should so much as look at a 
Yankee witliout a scowl! Woe, woe, to the man 
who should give them the slightest semblance of 
aid or sympathy ! Hail, yellow fever ! once the 
dreaded scourge of New Orleans ; more welcome 
now than the breezes of October after a summer 
of desolation. Come, Destroyer ; come and 
blast these hated foes of a subUme southern 
chivalry! Come, thougli we also perish ! 

During the evening of Thursday, before it was 
known whether the batteries at Chalmette could 
retard the upward prograss of the fleet, the 
famous burning of cotton and ships began. 
Fifteen thousand bales of cotton on the levee ; 
twelve or lifteen cotton ships in the river; fifteen 
or twenty river steamboats ; an unfinished ram 
of great magnitude ; tho dry-docks ; vast heaps 
of coal ; vaster stores of steamboat wood ; miles 
of steamboat wood; ship timber; board-yards; 
whatever was supposed to be of use to Yankees ; 
all was set on lire, and the heavens were black 
with smoke. Hogsheads of sugar and barrels 
of molasses were stove in by hundreds. Parts 
of the levee ran molas.ses.' Thousands of negroes 
and poor white people were carrying off the 
sugar in aprons, pails, and baskets. And, as if 
this were not enough, the valiant governor of 
Louisiana fled away up the river in tho swiftest 
steamboat he could find, spreading alarm as he 
went, and issuing proclamations, calling on the 
planters to burn every bale of cotton in tho 
state, which tho ruthless invaders could reach. 

"if," said he, "you are resolved to be free; 
if you are worthy of tho heroic blood that has 
come down to you through hallowed genera- 
tions; if you have fixed your undimmcd eyes 
upon the brightness that is spread out before 
you aud your children, and are determined to 



shake away for ever all political association with 
tho venal hordes that now gather like a pesti- 
ler'.ce about your fair country ; now, my fellow- 
citizens, is tho time to strike." He meant strike 
a light; for he continued thus: "One sparkling, 
living torch of fire, for one hour, in manly action 
upon each other's plantation, and the eternal 
seal of southern independence is fired and fixed 
in the great heart of the world." 

This sublime effusion liad its effect, supported 
as it was by the presence of the Union fleet in 
the sacred river. Hence, as we are officially 
informed, two hundred and fifty thousand bales 
of cotton were consumed, during the next few 
days, in a region already impoverished by the 
war. Not a pound of this cotton was in danger 
of seizure ; it was safer after the fall of the city 
than before. 

About twelve o'clock, the fleet hove in sight 
of assembled New Orleans. The seven miles of 
crescent levee were one living fringe of human 
beings, who looked upon the coming ships with 
inexpressible sorrow, shame, and anger. Again 
the cry arose, burn tho city ; a cry that might 
have been obeyed but for the known presence 
and determination of the European Brigade. 
The people were given over to a strong delusion, 
the result of two generations of Do Bow fl^lse- 
hood and Calhoun heresy. That fleet, if they 
had but known it, was Deliverance, rot Subju- 
gation ; it was to end, not begin, the reign of 
terror and of wrong. The time will come when 
New Orleans will know this ; when the anniver- 
sary of this day will be celebrated with thank- 
fulness and joy, and statues of Farragut and 
Butler will adorn the public places of the city. 
But before that time comes, what years of wise 
and heroic labor! The fleet drew near and cast 
anchor in the stream, the crowd looking on, 
some in sullen silence, many uttering yells of 
execration, a few secretly rejoicing, all deeply 
moved. 



CHAPTER XL 



NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT StJREENDER. 

Captain Farragut's fleet emerged from the 
hurly-burly of the fight on the morning of the 
24th, into a beautiful and tranquil scene. Soon 
after leaving quarantine, the sugar plantations, 
with their villas girdled with pleasant verandas, 
and surrounded with trees, each with its village 
of negro huts near by, appeared on both sides 
of the river. Tho canes wore a foot high, and 
of the brightest April green, rendered more 
vivid by the background of forest a mile from 
the river. Except that a white flag or rag was 
hung from many of the houses, and, in some in- 
stances, a torn and faded American flag, a relic 
of better times, there was little to remind the 
voyagers that they were in an enemy's country. 
Here and there a white man was seen waving a 
Union flag ; and occasionally a gesture of defi- 
ance or contempt was discerned. The negroes 
who were working in tho fields in great num- 
bers — in gangs of fifty, a hundred, two hun- 
dred — these alone gave an unmistakable wel- 
come to tho ships. Tliey would como running 
down to the levee in crowds, hoe in hand, and 



NEW OELEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 



toss their battered old hats into the air, and 
shout, sing and caper in their wild picturesque 
foshioa. Other gangs, held under stronger con- 
trol, kept on their work without so much as 
looking at tlie passing vessels, unless it might 
be that one or two of them, watching their 
chance, would wave a hand or hat, and straight 
to hoe again. 

None of those batteries with which the river 
was said to be "lined," were discovered. At 
three o'clock the ships were off Point la Ilache, 
which had been reported to bo impassably forti- 
fied. No guns were there. Ou the contrary, 
on a plantation near by thirty plows were going, 
and two hundred negroes came to the shore in 
the highest glee, to greet the ships. " Hurrah 
for Abraham," cried one. At eight o'clock in 
the evening, at a point eighteen miles below the 
city, the fleet camo to anchor for the night. 
The city was not more than half that distance 
in a straight line, and consequently, the prodig- 
ious volumes of smoke from the burning cotton 
were plainly seen, exciting endless speculation 
in the minds of ofBcers and crew. Perhaps 
another Moscow. Who knows? Nothing is 
too mad for secesh ; secession itself being mad- 
ness. 

At midnight, an alarm! Three large fires 
ahead, concluded to be fire-rafts. Up anchor, 
all! The vessels cruised cautiously about in the 
river for an hour or two ; Captain Farragut not 
caring to venture higher in an unexplored river, 
said to be lined witli batteries. The fires proved 
to be stationery ; and when the fleet passed 
them the next morning, they were discovered to 
be three large cotton sliips burning — their block- 
ade-running ended thus for ever. 

At Chalmette, Jackson's old battle-ground, 
now but three miles below the city, the river 
really was "lined" with batteries; i. e., there 
was a battery on each side of the river, each 
mounting eight or ten old guns. The signal to 
engage them was made the moment they came 
in sight. The leading ships were twenty min- 
utes under fire before they could return it ; but 
then a few broadsides of shell and grape drove 
the unsheltered foe from the works, with the loss 
of one man in the fleet knocked overboard by 
the wind of a ball, and our Herald friend hit 
with a splinter, but not harmed. " It was what 
I call," says Captain Farragut, "one of the little 
elegancies of the profession — a dash and a vic- 
tory." 

Round the bend at noon, into full view of the 
vast sweep of the Crescent Cily. What a scene ! 
Fires along the shore farther tlian the eye could 
reach ; the river full of burning vessels ; the 
levee lined with madmen, whose yells and defi- 
ant gestures showed plainly enough what kind 
of welcome awaited the new-comers. A faint 
cheer for the Union, it is said, rose from one 
part of the levee, answered by a volley of pistol- 
shots from the bj^-standers. As the fleet drop- 
ped anchor in the stream, a thunder-storm of 
tropical violence burst over the city, which dis- 
solved large masses of the crowd, and probably 
reduced, in some degree, the frenzy of those 
who remained. 

The banks, the stores, all places of business 
were closed in tlie city. The mayor, by formal 
proclamation, had uow invested llio European 
Brigade, under General Juge, "with the duty of 



watching over the public tranquillity ; patrols 
of whom should be treated with respect, and 
obeyed." General Juge and his command saved 
the city from plunder and anarchy — probably 
from universal conflagration. Night and day 
they patrolled the city ; and the general, by per- 
sonal entreaty and public proclamation, induced 
some of the butchers and grocers to open their 
shops. A fear of starvation was added to the 
other horrors of the time ; for the country people 
feared to approach the city, and the markets 
were alarmingly bare of provisions. And then 
the Confederate currency — would that be of any 
value under the rule of the United States? 
" It is as good now as it over has been," said 
the mayor, in one of his half-dozen proclama- 
tions, " and there is no reason to reject it;" but 
'■ those who hold Coufederate currency, and wish 
to part with it, may have it exchanged for city 
bflls, by applying to the Committee of Public 
Safety." Another proclamation called upon 
those who liad carried off sugar from the levee 
to bring it back ; another promised a free market 
and abundant provisions on Monday; anotlier 
desired the provision dealers to rc-opeu their 
stores; another urged the people to be calm, 
and trust the authorities with their welfare and 
their honor. 

At one o'clock, the fleet was anchored. The 
rain was falling in torrents, but the crowd near 
the Custom-House was still dense and fierce, the 
rain having molted away the softer elements. 
A boat put ofl' Irom the flag-ship — man-of-war's 
boats, trim and tidy, crew in liesh tarpauhus 
and clean shirts, no flag of truce flying. In the 
stern sat tlu'ee ofQcers, Captain Bailey, second 
in command of the fleet. Lieutenant Perkins, his 
companion m the errand upon which he was 
sent and Acting-Master Morton in charge of the 
boat. Just after the boat put off, a huge tiling 
of a ram Mississippi, pierced for twenty guns, 
a kind of monster Merrimac, or fortified Noah's 
ark, came floating down the river past the fleet, 
wrapped in flames. At another time the spec- 
tacle would have been duly honored by the 
fleet, but at that moment every ej^e was upon 
Captaiu Jjailey's boat, nearing tiie crowd on the 
levee. 

We all remember the greeting bestowed upon 
this officer. It was by no means that which u 
conquered city usually confers upon the con- 
queror. Deafiniug cheers lor " Jeff. Davis and 
the South;" thundering groans for "Lincoln and 
his fleet;" sudden hustling and collaring of two 
or three men wlio had dared cheer lor the " old 
flag." Captain Bailey and Lieutenant Perkins, 
however, stepped on shore, and announced their 
desire to see the mayor of the city. A few re- 
spectable persons in the crowd had the cournge 
to offer to conduct them to the City Hall, under 
whose escort the ofiicers started on their peril- 
ous journey, followed and surrounded by a 
yelling, infuriated multitude, regardless of the 
pouring rain. " No violence," says a Delia re- 
porter, " was offered to the officers, tlioagh cer- 
tain persons who were suspected of luvoring 
tlieir flag and cause were set upon with great 
fury, and roughly handled. On arriving at tlie 
City Hall, it required the intervention of several 
citizens lo prevent violence being oflered to the 
rash embassadors of an execrated dynasty and 
government." 



70 



NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 



Mayor Monroe is a gentlemen of slight form 
and short stature ; he was not equal to the ex- 
ceedingly perplexing situation in which ho found 
himself. Supported, however, by the presence 
of several of the "city fathers," as he styled 
them, and aided by the talents of Mr. Soule, he 
performed his part in the curious interview with 
tolerable dignity. ^Vhile the colloquy proceeded, 
the City Hall was surrounded by an ever grow- 
ing crowd, whose cheers for Jeff. Davis and 
groans for " Abe Lincoln " served as loud ac- 
companiment to the mild discord within the 
building. Captain Bailey and his companion 
were duly presented to the mayor, and courteous 
salutations were exchanged between them. 

"I have been sent," said the captain, "by 
Captain Farragut, commanding the United States 
fleet, to demand the surrender of the city, and 
the elevation of the flag of the United States 
over the Custom-House, the Mint, the Post- 
OfBce, and the City Hall." 

" I am not," replied the mayor, " the military 
commander of the city. I have no authority to 
surrender it, and would not do so if I had. 
There is a military commander now in the city. 
I will send for him to receive and reply to your 
demand. 

A messenger was accordingly dispatched for 
Genera] Lovell, who, though he had sent ofl" his 
troops, remained in the town, a train waiting 
with steam up to convey him and his stafl' to 
camp. 

Polite conversation ensued between the ofBcers 
and the gentlemen in the office of the mayor, 
with fitful yell accompaniment from the outside 
crowd. The officers praised with warm sinceri- 
ty the stout defeu-so made by the forts, and the 
headlong valor with which the rebel fleet had 
hurled itself against the Union ships. Captain Bai- 
ley regretted the wholesale destruction of property 
in the city, and said that Captain Farragut de- 
plored it no less than himself To this the 
mayor replied, not with the courtesy of his mon- 
itor, Mr. Soule, that the property being their 
own, the destruction of it did not conccTU out- 
siders. Captain Bailey remarked that it looked 
to him like biting off your nose to spite your 
face. The mayor intimated that he took a dif- 
ferent view of the subject. 

Cheers from the mob announced the arrival 
of General Lovell, who soon entered the office. 
The officers were presented to him. 

"I am General Lovell," said he, " of the 
array of the Confederate States, commanding 
this department." 

Whereupon he shook hands with the Union 
officers. Captain Bailey repeated the demand 
with which he had been charged, adding that 
he was instructed by Captain Farragut to say, 
that he had come to protect private property and 
personal rights, and had no design to interfere 
with any private rights, and especially not with 
negro property. 

General Lovell replied that ho would not sur- 
render the city, nor allow it to be surrendered ; 
tliat he was overpowered on the water by a su- 
perior squadron, but that ho intended to fight on 
land as long as ho could muster a soldier : he 
had marched all his armed men out of the city; 
had evacuated it; and if tliey desired to shell 
the town, destroying women and children, they 
could do so. It it was to avoid this that he had 



marched his troops beyond the city limits, but a 
large number even of the women of the city had 
begged him to remain and defend the city even 
against shelling. Ho did not think ho would be 
justified in doing so. He would therelbro re- 
tire and leave the city authorities to pursue what 
course they should tliink proper. 

Caiitain Bailey said, that nothing was farther 
from Captain Farragut's thoughts than to shell 
a defenseless town filled with women and child- 
ren. On the contrary, he had no hostile inten- 
tions toward New Orleans, and regretted ex- 
tremely the destruction of property that had 
already occurred. 

" It was done by my authority, sir," inter- 
rupted General Lowell. He might have added 
that his own cotton was the first to be fired. 

It was then concluded that the Union officers 
should return to the fleet, and the mayor would 
lay the matter before the common council, and 
report the result to Captain Farragut. Captain 
Bailey requested protection during their return 
to the levee, the crowd being evidently in no 
mood to allow their peaceful departure. The 
general detailed two of his officers to accompany 
them, and went himself to harangue the multi- 
tude. Mr. Soule also addressed the people, 
counseling moderation and dignity. The naval 
officers meanwhile were conducted to the rear of 
the building, where a carriage was procured for 
them, and they were driven rapidly to their 
boat. The crew were infinitely relieved by their 
arrival, for during the long period of their 
absence, the crowd had assailed them with every 
epithet of abuse, to which the only possible re- 
ply was silence. The officers stepped on board, 
and were soon alongside of the flag-ship, the 
parting yell of the mob still ringing in their ears. 
At the same lime General Lovell was making 
his way to the cars, and was seen in New Or- 
leans no more. 

Captain Farragut was a little amused and very 
much puzzled at the singular position in which 
he found himself There was oothing further to 
be done, however, until he heard from the 
mayor. All hands were tired out. New Orleans, 
too, was exhausted with the excitement of the 
last three days. So, both the fleet and the city 
enjoyed a night more tranquil than either had 
known for some time. " The city was as peace- 
ful and quiet as a country hamlet — much quieter 
than in ordinary times," said the Picayune the 
next morning. 

April 2(Jth, Saturday, at half-past sis, a boat 
from shore reached the flag-ship, contaming the 
mayor's secretary and chief of police, bearers of 
a message from the mayor. The mayor said the 
common council would meet at ten that morning, 
the result of whose deliberations should be 
promptly submitted to Captain Farragut. The 
captain, not relishing the delay, still less the 
events of yesterday, sent a letter to the mayor, 
recapitulating those events, and again stating 
his determination to respect private rights. " I, 
therefore demand of you," said the fiag-officer, 
"as its representative, the unqualified surrender 
of the city, and that the emblem of the sov- 
ereignty of the United States be hoisted over 
the City Hall, Mint, and Custom-House, by 
meridian this day, and all flags and other em- 
blems of sovereignty other than that of the 
Uuited States be removed from all the public 



NEW ORLEANS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 



71 



buildings by that liour. I particularly request 
that you shall exercise your authority to quell 
disturbances, restore order, and call upon all the 
good people of New Orleans to return at once 
10 their avocations ; and I particularly demand 
that no person shall be molested in person or 
property for sentiments of loyalty to their 
government. I shall speedily and severely 
punish any person or persons who shall couunit 
such outrages as were witnessed yesterday, of 
armed men firing upon helpless women and 
children for giving expression to their pleasure at 
witnessing the ' old flag.' " 

This demand of Captain Farragut, that the 
enemy should themselves hoist the Union flag, 
gave the mayor, aided by Mr. Soule, an oppor- 
tunity to make an advantageous reply. 

The common council met in the course of the 
morning. Besides relating tlie interview with 
Captain Bailey, the mayor favored the council 
with his opinion upon ihe same. "My own 
opinion is," said he, " that as a civil magistrate, 
possessed of no military power, I am incompetent 
to perform a military act, such as the surrender 
of the city to a hostile force ; and that it would 
be proper to say, in reply to a demand of that 
character, that we are without military pro- 
tection, that the troops have withdrawn from 
the city, that we are consequently incapable of 
making any resistance, and that therefore, we 
can offer no obstruction to the occupation of the 
Mint, the Custora-House and the Post-Ofi&ce ; 
that these are the properly of the Confederate 
governm.ent ; that we have no control over them; 
and that all acts involving a transfer of property 
must be performed by the invading force — by 
the enemy themselves: that we yield to physical 
force alone, and that we maintain our allegiance 
to the Confederate government. Beyond this, a 
due respect for our dignity, our rights, and the 
flag of our country, does not, I think, permit us 
to go." 

Upon receiving this message, the common 
council unanimously adopted the following reso- 
lutions : 

" Whereas, the common council of the city of 
New Orleans, having been advised by the mili- 
tary authorities that the city is indefensible, de- 
clare that no resistance will be made to the forces 
of the United States ; 

" Resolved, that the sentiments expressed in 
the message of his honor the mayor to the com- 
mon council, are in perfect accordance with the 
sentiments entertained by the entire population 
of this metropolis ; and that the mayor be 
respectfully requested to act in the spirit mani- 
fested by tlie message." 

While waiting for the deliberations of the 
council, Captain Farragut went up the river, 
seven miles, to Carrol ton, where batteries had 
been erected to defend the city from an attack 
from above. He found them deserted, the guns 
spiked, and the gun-carriages burning. 

April 27th, Sunday. — An eventful day; to 
one unhappy man, a fatal day. The early 
morning brought the mayor's reply to Captain 
Farragut : " I am no military man, and possess 
no authority beyond that of executing the mu- 
nicipal laws of the city of New Orleans. It 
would be presumptuous in me to attempt to lead 
an army to the field, if I had one at command ; 
and I know still less how to surrender an unde- 



fended place, held, as it is, at the mercy of 3'our 
gunners and your mortars. To surrender .such 
a place were au idle and unmeaning eorumouy. 
The city is yours by the power of brutal force, 
not by my choice or the consent of its inhab- 
itants. It is for you to determine what will be 
the fate that awaits us here. As to hoisting any 
flag not of our own adoption and allegiance, let 
me say to you that the man lives not in our 
midst whose hand and heart would not be par- 
alyzed at the mere thought of such an act; nor 
could I find in my entire constituency so des- 
perate and wretched a renegade as would dare 
to profane with his hand the sacred emblem of 
our aspirations." With more of similar purport. 
The substance of the mayor's meaning seemed 
to be : " Come on shore and hoist what flag you 
please. Don't ask us to do your flag raising." 
A rather good reply in the substance of it. 
Slightly impudent, perhaps ; but men who are 
talking from behind a bulwark of fil'ty thousand 
women and children, can be impudent if they 
please. 

Tlie commander of the fleet refused to confer 
fartlier with the mayor ; but, with regard to tlie 
flag hoisting, determined to take him at his word. 
Captain Morri.s, of the Peusacola, the ship that 
lay ofl' the Mint, was ordered to send a party 
ashore, and hoist the flag of the United States 
upon that edifice. At eight in the morning, the 
stars and stripes floated over it once more. The 
ofQcer commanding the party warned the by- 
standers that the guns of the Pensacola would 
certainly open fire upon tlie building if any one 
should be seen molesting, the flag. Without 
leaving a guard to protect it, he returned to his 
ship, and the howitzers in the main-top of the 
Pensacola, loaded with grape, were aimed at the 
flag-staft" and the guard ordered to fire the mo- 
ment any one should attempt to haul down the 
flag. I think it was an error to leave the flag 
unprotected. A company of marines could have 
kept the mob at bay ; would have prevented the 
shameful scenes that followed. 

At eleven o'clock, the crews of all the ships 
were assembled on deck for prayers: " to render 
thanks," as the order ran, " to Almighty G-od for 
His great goodness and mercy in permitting us 
to pass through the events of the last two days 
with so little loss of life and blood." As the 
clouds threatened rain, the gunner of the Pensa- 
cola, just before taking his place for the cere- 
mony, removed from the guns the " wafers" by 
which they are discharged. One look-out man 
was left in the main-top, who held the strings of 
the howitzers in his hand, and kept a sliarp eye 
upon the flag-staff of the Mint. The solemn 
service proceeded for twenty minutes, with such 
emotions on the part of those brave men as may 
be imagined, not related. 

A discharge from the howitzers overhead, 
startled the crew from their devotions! They 
rushed to quarters. Every eye sought the flag- 
staff of the Mint. Four men were seen on the 
roof of the building, who tore down the flag, 
hurried away with it, and disappeared. With- 
out orders, by an impulse of the moment, the 
cords of the guns all along the broadside were 
snatched at by eager hands. Nothing but the 
cliance removal of the wafers saved the city 
from a tearful scene of destruction and slaughter. 
The exasperation of the fleet at this audacious 



72 



NEW ORLEiVNS WILL NOT SURRENDER. 



act, was such that, at the raotneut, an order to 
shell the town would have seemed a natural and 
proper one. 

New Orleans hailed it with vociferous accla- 
mations. " The nnmes of the party," said the 
Picayune of the next morning, " that distin- 
guished themselves by gallantly tearing down 
the flag that liad been surroptitiously hoisted, 
we learn, are W. B. Mumfjrd, who cut it loose 
from the fiag-stalV amid the shower of grape, 
Lieutenant N. Holmes, Sergeant Burns and 
James Reed. They deserve great credit for 
their patriotic act. New Orleans in this hour 
of adversity, by the calm dignity she displays in 
the presonce of the enemj", by tlio proof she 
gives of !ior unflinching determination to sustain 
to the uttermost the righteous cause for whicii 
she has done so much and made such great sacri- 
fices, by her serene endurance undismayed of 
the evil which afflicts her, and her abiding con- 
fidence in the not distant coming of better and 
brighter days — of spec ly deliverance from the 
enemy's toils — is showing a bright example to 
her sister cities, and proving herself, in all 
respects, worthy of the proud position she has 
achieved. We glory of being a citizen of this 
great metropolis." 

"Calm dignity !" The four men having secured 
their prize, trailed it in the mud of the streets amid 
the yells of the mob ; mounted with it upon a 
furniture car and paraded it about the city with 
fife and drum ; tore it, at last, into shreds, and 
distributed the pieces among the crowd. Such 
was the calm dignity of New Orleans. Such 
the valor of ruffians protected by a rampart of 
fifty thousand women and children. 

Captain Farragut was equally indignant and 
embarrassed. Seldom has a naval commander 
found himself in a position so beset with con- 
tradictions — defied and insulted by a town that 
lay at his mercy. A few hours after these 
events. General Butler arrived to share the es- 
asperafioa of the fleet and join in the counsels of 
its chief. He advised the captain to threaten 
the city with bombardment, and to order away 
the women and children. Captain Farragut, in 
part, adopted the measure, and sent a commu- 
nication to the mayor warning him of the peril 
which the city incurred by such scenes as those 
of Sunday morning, fie inlbrmed him of the 
danger of drawing from the fleet a destructive fire 
by the spontaneous action of the men. " The elec- 
tion is with you," he concluded, " but it becomes 
my duty to notify you to remove the women and 
children from the city within forty-eight hours, 
if I have r-ghUy uiiderdood your deie7'>nination." 
The autliorities of the city chose to interpret this 
note as a formal announcement of a bombard- 
ment at the cxpiratiou of the specified period. 
So, at least, they represented it to Captain De 
•Jlouet, commanding a French man of war which 
had just arrived before the city. That officer 
thougiit it his duty to demand a longer time for 
tho removal of the women and children. " Sent 
by my government," ho wrote to Capt^\in Far- 
ragut, '■ to protect the persons and property of 
•ts citizens, who are here to the number of tnirty 
Uiousand, I regret to learn at this moment that 
you have accorded a delay of forty-eight houra 
for tho evacuation of ilie city by tho women and 
children. I venture to observe to you that this 
iiort delay is ridiculous ; and, in tho na me of 



my government I oppose it. If it is your reso- 
lution to bombard tlie city, do it; but I wish to 
state that you will have to account for the bar- 
barous act to tho power which I represent. In 
any event, I demand sixty days for the evacu- 
ation." 

Captain Farragut and General Butler had 
visited Captain De Cloueton his arrival, and had 
received from him polite congratulations upon 
tho success of the expedition. It was no fault 
of his that Captain Farnigut's notification was 
so egrcgiously misunderstood. 

General Butler meanwhile perceiving that 
light-drafl steamers were not to be had, and that 
nothing eflectual could bo done without landing 
a force in the city, hastened down tho river to 
attempt the reduction of tho forts with such 
means as he could command. Before leaving, 
however, he had the .satisfaction of receiving the 
spy, engaged at Washington many weeks before, 
who had escaped in the confusion, and brought 
full details of the condition of tho city. Mr. 
Summers, too, once recorder of New Orleans, 
fled on board one of the ships from the violence 
of a mob in whose hearing he had declared his 
attachment to the Union. A lady, also, came 
off, and delivered a paper of intelligence and 
congratulation. 

On his way down the river. General Butler 
met the glad tidings of the surrender of the forts, 
and had the pleasure, on the 28t.h, of walking 
over ihum with Captain Porter among the joyful 
troops. Colonel Jones, of the Twenty-sixth 
Massachusetts, was appointed to command the 
Garrison, and Lieutennat Weitzel began forth- 
with to put the forts in repair. All the rest of 
the troops were ordered up the river with the 
utmost speed. General Phelps was already 
at the forts, and the transports from Sable Island 
were making their way under General Williams 
to tho mouth of the river. The news of tho 
surrender of the forts, which reached the fleet 
on Monday, relieved Captain Farragut from em- 
barrassment, lie could now afford to wait, if 
New Orleans could, though the fl.'ct still beheld 
with impatience the flaunting of tho rebel flags. 
General Duncan, that da}', harrangucd tho crowd 
upon the levee, declaring, '' witii tears in his 
eyes," that nothing but tho mutiny of part of his 
command could have induced him to surrender. 
But for that, he could and would have held out 
for mouths. "Ho cried like a child," says one 
report. Tiio tone of tlie authorities appeared to 
be somewhat lowered by the news. They dared 
not formally disclaim tho exploit of Mumford 
and his comrades ; but Captain Farragut was 
privately assured that the removal of the flags 
from the mint was the unauthorized act i)f a few 
individuals. On the 29lh, Captain Bell, with a 
hundred marines, landed on the levee, marched 
into tho city, hauled down the Confederate flag 
from tho Mint and Custom-I louse, and hoisted 
in its stead the flag of the United States. Cap- 
tain Boll locked the Custom- House and took the 
keys to his sliip. These flags remained, though 
tho marines were withdrawn before evening. 

The work of the European Brigade was ap- 
proaching a conclusion. The portion of it call- 
ed the British Guard, eomposi'd of unnatural- 
ized Englishmen — unnatural I'higlishmen rather 
— voted at their armory, a day or two after, to 
send their weapons, accouterments and uniforms 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



to General 'Bcaiiregarcrs army, as a slight token 
of their affection for the Confederate States. 
Somo of these " neutral" gentlemen had occa- 
sion to regret this step before the mouth of May 
was ended. 

There was a general coming up the river, who 
had the peculiarity of fueling toward the rebel- 
lion as the rebel leaders felt toward the gov- 
ernment they had betrayed. He hated it. He 
meant to do his part toward putting it down by 
the strong hand, not conciliating it by insincere 
palaver. The reader is requested to bear in 
mind this peculiarity, for it is the key to the 
understanding of General Butler's administra- 
tion. Consider always that his attachment to 
the Union and the flag was of the same intense 
and uncompromising nature, as the devotion of 
South Carolinians to the cause of the Confed- 
eracy. His was indeed a nobler devotion, but 
in mere warmth and entireness. it resembled the 
zeal of secessionists. He meant well to the peo- 
ple of Louisiana; he did well by them; but it 
was his inimovable resolve that the ruling power 
in Louisiana henceforth should be the United 
States, which had bought, defended, protected, 
and enriched it. Think what secessionists would 
have done in New Orleans, if it had remained 
true to the Union, and fallen into their hands in 
the second year of the war. Tliat General But- 
ler did ; only with exactest justice, with ideal 
purity; employing all right methods of concilia- 
tion ; rigorous only to secure the main object — 
the absolute, the unquestioned supremacy of the 
United States. 



CHAPTER Xir. 

LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 

The troops had a joyful trip up the river 
among the verdant sugar-fields, welcomed, as 
the fleet had been, by capering negroes. The 
transport Mississippi, with her old complement 
of fourteen hundred men, and Mrs. Butler on 
tlie quarter-deck, hove in sight of the forts at 
sunset on the last day of April. The forts were 
covered all over with blue-coated soldiers, who 
paused in their investigations to cheer the arriv- 
ing vesseLs, and, especially, the Lady who had 
borne them company in so many perils. It was 
an animated and glorious scene, illumined by the 
setting sun ; one of those intoxicating moments 
which repay soldiers for months of fatigue and 
waiting. The general came on board, and, at 
midnight, the transport steamers started for the 
city. At noon on the 1st of May, the Missis- 
sippi lay alongside the levee at New Orleans. 

A crowd rapidly gathered ; but it was by no 
means as turbulent or noisy as that wiiich had 
howled at Captain Bailey five days before. There 
were women among them, many of whom ap- 
peared to be nurses carrying children. Mulatto 
women witli baskets of cakes and oranges were 
also seen. Voices wore frequently heard calling 
for " Picayune Butler," who was requested to 
"show himself," and "come ashore." The gen- 
eral, who is fond of a joke, requested Major 
Strong to ascertain if any of the bands could 
play the lively melody to which the mob had 
called his attention. Unluckily, none of the 



bandmasters possessed the music; so tho gen- 
eral was obhged to forego his joke, and fall back 
upon Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled 
Banner. Others of the crowd cried: "You'll 
never see homo again." " Yellow Jack will 
have you before long." " Halloo, epaulets, lend 
us a picayune." With divers other remarks of 
a chafing nature, alternating with malciictions. 
General Butler waited upon Captain Farragut, 
and heard a narrative of recent events. The 
general announced his determination to land 
forthwith, and Captain Farragut notified the 
mayor of this resolve; adding that he should 
hold no farther correspondence with the authori- 
ties of New Orleans, but gladly yielded the situ- 
ation to the commander of the army. Returning 
to the Mississippi, General Butler directed the 
inunediate disembarkation of tho troops, and the 
operation began about four o'clock in the after- 
noon. A company of the Thirty-first Massachu- 
setts landed on the e.x:tensive platform raised 
above the levee for the convenient loading of 
cotton, and, forming a line, slowly pressed back 
the crowd, at the point of the bayonet, until 
space enough was obtained for the regiment to 
form. When the Thirty-first had all landed, 
they marched down the cotton platform to the 
levee, and along the levee to Le Lord street, 
where they halted. The Fourth Wisconsin was 
then disembarked, after which the procession 
was formed in tho order following : 

First, as pioneer and guide, marched Lieuten- 
ant Henry Weigel, of Baltimore, aid to the gen- 
eral, who was familiar with tlie streets of the 
city, and now rose from a sick bed to claim the 
fulfillment of General Butler's promise that he, 
and he only, should guide the troops to the Cus- 
tom-House. 

Next, the drum-corps of the Thirty-first Mas- 
sachusetts. Behind these. General Butler and 
his staft" on foot, no horses having yet been 
landed, a file of the Thirty-first marching on 
each side of them. Then Captain Everett's bat- 
tery of artillery, with whom marched Captain 
Kensel, chief of artillery to the expedition. The 
Thirty-first followed, under Colonel 0. P. Good- 
ing. Next, General Williams and his staff, pre- 
ceded by the fine band of the Fourth Wisconsin, 
and followed by that regiment under Colonel 
Paine. The same orders were given as on the 
march into Baltimore: silence; no notice to be 
taken of mere words ; if a shot were fired from 
a house, halt, arrest inmates, destroy house ; if 
fired upon from the crowd, arrest the man if 
possible, but not fire into the crowd unless abso- 
lutely necessary for self-defense, and then not 
without orders. 

At five the procession moved, to the music of 
the Star Spangled Banner. The crowd surged 
along the pavements on cacii side of the troops, 
struggling chiefly to get a sight of the general ; 
crying out: "Where is the d — d old rascal?" 
" There he goes, G — d d — n him !" " I see the 
d — d old villain!" To which were added such 
outcries, as " Shiloh," " Bull Run," " Hurrah for 
Beauregard!" "Go home, you d — d Yankees." 
From some windows, a mild hiss was bestowed 
upon the troops, who marched steadily on, 
looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. 
The general, not having a musical ear, was ob- 
served to be chiefly anxious upon the point of 
keeping step to the music — a feat that had never 



74 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



become cnay to liim, often as he had attempted 
it in the streets of Lowell. And so they marched ; 
along tho levee to Poyih'as street ; Poydras street 
to St. Charles street ; past tho famous hotel, 
closed and deserted now, though alive witli five 
hundred inmates three days before; along St. 
Charles street to Canal street and the Custom- 
House — that vast, unfinished, roofless structure, 
upon which the United States had expended so 
many millions, one Beauregard being engineer. 

Tho troops surrounded tho edifice ; Captain 
Kensel ported his artillery so as to command the 
adjacent streets, and the general ordered the 
Thirty-first to enter and occupy the building, 
but Captain Bell had locked the door and put 
the key into his pocket. The door was forced, 
therefore, and by six o'clock, the Thirty-first 
was lodged in the second story, making prep- 
arations for the evening meal. Strong guards 
were posted at all needful points. The general 
and his staff then returned to the levee, and 
went on bnard the Mississippi for tlie night. The 
Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Doming, bivouacked 
upon the levee near tiie ship, happy to lie down 
once more under tho stars, after being so long 
huddled in a transport ship. The evening was 
warm and serene, and the city was again as 
still as a country hamlet. General Phelps came 
on shore at twilight, and walked about the city 
unattended and unmolested. Nay, he reported 
that the people whom he h:id spoken to answer- 
ed his inquiries with politeness, despite his 
uniform. " You didn't mention your name; did 
you, Geneial?" asked an officer. " No," replied 
he, laughing; " no one asked it." 

That evening. General Butler having put the 
finishing touches to his proclamation, sent two 
officers of his stafl" to tho office of the True Delta, 
to get it printed as a handbill He forbore to 
demand its insertion in the paper, unwilling to 
bring upon any one cstablisiiment tiie odium 
that its insertion could not but excite. In all 
ways, he was trying the suaviter in modo, before 
resorting to tho fortiter in re. The officers 
reached the office at ten, after the proprietor and 
editors had gone home. The foreman in charge 
replied, that in the absence of the proprietor, the 
document could not bo printed. The officers 
returned to the ship, 'reported, and received 
farther orders. At eight the next morning, the 
same officers were again at tho office of the True 
Delta, where they found the chief proprietor, 
and repeated their request. 

No ; the Trice Delta office could not think of 
printing General Butler's proclamation. 

The officers quietl}' intimated that, in that 
case, they would bo under the painful necessity 
of seizing the office, and using tho materials 
therein for the purpose of printing it. The pro- 
prietor objected. Ho said that the selection of 
hia establishment for the printing of such a 
manuscrii)t, was invidious and unjust; it looked 
as if the ilesign was to make him and his col- 
leagues obnoxious and loathsome to their fellow- 
citizens. " I can not resist," said he, " tho seizure 
of the office, but, under no circumstances, shall 
it be used for the purpose designated, with my 
approval or consent." 

The officers bowed and retired. After two 
hour.s' absence, ttioy returned with a file of 
soldiers, armed and equipped, who drew up be- 
fore the building. Half a dozen of them entered 



tho printing-office, whore they laid aside their 
weapons of war, and took up the pe ceful im- 
plements of their trade. The proclamation was 
soon in type, and a few copies printed ; enough 
for tho general's immediate purpose. The pro- 
prietor liimself testified, in the paper of the next 
day, that tlie troops effected their purpose and 
retired, " without off"oring any offense in language 
or behavior, or manifesting the least desire to 
interfere with the regular business of the office, 
or to injure or derange its property." It would 
have been better if ho could have refrained from 
other comment. But he did not. He added : 
" As this first step of the commander of tho 
federal troops in possession of this citj', is indic- 
ative of a determination, on his part, to subject 
us to a supervision utterly subversive of the 
character of fearless patriotism which the True 
Delta has over maintained, we will promise this 
much, and we will perform it, namely, to sus- 
pend our publication, even if our last crust 
be sacrificed by the act, rather than molt one 
feather of that independ jnce which, in presence 
of every discouragement and danger, we have 
over made our honest boast. "Wo have no favors 
to ask ; we have never asked or desired any from 
any party; and we are prepared to stand or fall 
with the fortunes of our adopted Louisiana. 

General Butler ordered the suspension of the 
True Delta until farther orders. Tlie proprietors, 
however, yielded to the inevitable, promised 
compliance with the general's requisitions, and 
obtained, on the next day, permission to resume 
the publication of tlie paper. It was not, how- 
ever, till the tith of May, that the proclamation 
appeared in its columns. The other newspapers 
took the hint, and exhibited, in tlieir comments 
upon passing events, a blending of the politic 
with the audacious, that was ingenious and 
amusing, but not always ingenious enough, as 
General Butler occasionallj' reminded them. 
Editing a secession newspaper in New Orleans, 
during the next eight months, was an affair 
which could be described as " ticklish;" rather 
more so, than conducting a journal in the 
Orleans interest, under the nose of Louis Bona- 
parte. 

The second day of the occupation of the city 
was crowded with events of tho highest in- 
terest. 

The landing of tho troops was resumed with 
the dawn. Colonel Doming encamped his fine 
regiment in Lafavette Square in front of the City 
Hall. Other regiments wore posted in conve- 
nient localities. Troops were landed in Algiers 
on the opposite bank of the river, and the rail- 
road terminating there was seized, with its cars 
and buildings. General Phelps went up tho 
river several miles in the Saxon, to reconnoitor, 
and select a site for a camp above tho city. Cap- 
tain Everett was bu.sy extracting the spikes 
from tho cannon lying about tho Custom -House, 
and preparing to mount some of them in and 
upon it. He cast an inquiring and interested 
eye upon the eight hundred bolls — church bells, 
school bells, plantation bells, hand bells, cow 
bells — which had been sent to New Orleans 
upon General Beauregard's requisition ; some of 
which now call the children of New England to 
school ; others, factory girls to their labor ; 
others, rural congregations to cliurch ; for they 
were all sold at auction, sent to tho Noich, and 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



75 



distributed over the country. Tlie quartermaster 
to tlic expedition had a world of trouble with the 
draj'mon of the city, wliom be needed for trans- 
porting the tents and baggage. Not one of them 
dared, not many of them wished, to servo him. 
He was obliged to compel their assistance at the 
poiot of the pistol. Everything seized for the 
use of the troops, on this day and on all days, 
was either paid for when taken, or a receipt 
given therefor which was equivalent to gold. 
Tlie beliavior of the troops was faultless. No 
resident of New Orleans was harmed or insulted. 
None complained of harm or insult. A stranger 
would iiave supposed, from the quiet demeanor 
of the troops, and the arrogant air of the people, 
that the soldiers were prisoners in an enemy's 
town, not conquerors in a captured one. For the 
most part, the troops held no intercourse what- 
ever with the inhabitants. It was, indeed, 
perilous in the extreme, for a resident of the 
city to speak to an old friend, if that friend wore 
the uniform of the United States. Major Bell 
mentions that he met several old acquaintances 
about the city, but they either gave him the cut 
direct, or else bestowed a hurried, furtive salu- 
tation, and passed rapidly on. Another officer 
reports that on accosting an acquaintance, the 
gentleman said, in an anxious undertone, 
" Don't speak to me, or I shall have my head 
blown oft." 

A gentlemen connected with the expedition, 
but not in uniform,* tells me that he strolled into 
a market that morning, and bought a cup of coffee, 
for whicli he gave a gold dollar, and received in 
change nineteen dirty car-tickets, part of the es- 
tablished currency of the city. 

Quarters were required for the commanding 
general and his staff. What could they be but 
the St. Charles hotel, vacated five days before 
by General Lovell? Major Strong, Colonel 
French, and Major Bell, accompanied by Mr. 
Glenn, formerly a resident of New Orleans, were 
dispatched, early in the morning, to make the 
preliminary arrangements. They found the 
building closed. Going round to the ladies' en- 
trance they gained admission to the famous ro- 
tunda — bar-room and slavemart, scene of count- 
less " difficulties " and chivalric assassinations. 
There they met a son of one of the proprietors, 
to whom they stated their wishes. He replied, 
that both the proprietors were absent ; and as 
to his giving up the hotel to General Butler, his 
head would be shot off before he could reach the 
next corner if ho should do it. He declared 
that waiters would not dare to wait upon them, 
nor cooks to cook for them, nor porters to carry 
for them. Moreover, there were no provisions 
to be had in the market; he did not see what 
could be got for them beyond army rations. 
These objections were oftered by the young 
gentleman with the utmost politeness of man- 
ner. Major Strong observed, with equal suav- 
ity, that ho need give himself no concern 
with regard to giving up the hotel. In the 
name of General Butler, they would venture to 
take it. And as to the lack of provisions, they 
were used to army rations, had found them suffi- 
cient, and could make them do for an indefinite 
period. With regard to waiters and cooks, the 

* Mr. Samuel F. Glenn, afterward clerk of the provost- 
court. 



army of occupation were chiefly men of the Yan- 
kee persuasion, who were accustomed to wait on 
themselves, and could do a little of everything, 
from cooking upward. The young gentleman had 
nothing farther to offer, and so the St. Charles 
became the head-quarters of the army. The 
general arrived in the course of the morning, 
and established his office in one of the ladies' 
parlors. Mrs. Buller still remained on board the 
Mississippi. 

Tlie three officers and Mr. Glenn next pro- 
ceeded to the City Hall, in search of the mayor. 
They found that public functionary, afler some 
delay. They informed him, with all possible 
courtesy, that General Butler, commanding the 
department of the Gulf, had established his head- 
quarters at the St. Charles hotel, where he 
would be happy to confer with the mayor and 
council of New Orleans, at two o'clock on that 
day. The reply of tlie mayor was to the eft'ect, 
that his place of business was at the City Hall, 
where any gentleman who had business with 
him could see him during office hours. Colonel 
French politely intimated that that was not an 
answer likely to satisfy the commanding general, 
and expressed a hope that the mayor, on re- 
flection, would not complicate a state of aflairs, 
already embarrassing enough, by raising ques- 
tions of etiquette. General Butler was well dis- 
posed toward New Orleans and its authorities ; 
he merely desired to come to a clear under- 
standing with tliem as to the future government 
of the city. The officers retired. The mayor, 
upon reflection, concluded to wait upon the gen- 
eral. At two o'clock, accompanied by Mr. 
Soule and a considerable party of friends, highly 
respectable gentlemen of the city, he sat face to 
to face with General Butler in the ladies' parlor 
of the St. Charles. 

The interview was destined to be interrupted 
and abortive. The seizure of the St. Charles 
hotel appeared to have rekindled the passions of 
the populace, who surrounded the building in a 
dense mass, filling all the open space adjacent. 
A cannon was posted at each of the corners of the 
buikUng; a regiment surrounded it; and the 
brave General Williams was in command. But 
it seemed as if the quiet demeanor of the 
troops, since the lauding of the evening before, 
had been misinterpreted by the mob, who grew 
fiercer, louder and bolder, as the day wore on. 
The mayor and his party had not been long in 
the presence of General Butler, when an aide- 
de-camp ruslied in and said : 

" General Williams orders me to say, that he 
fears he will not be able to control the mob." 

General Butler, in his sereuest manner replied ; 

" Give my compliments to General Williams, 
and teU him, if he finds he cannot control the mob, 
to open upon them with artillery." 

The mayor and his friends sprang to their feet 
in consternation. 

" Don't do that, general," exclaimed the mayor. 

" Why not, gentlemen ?" said the general. 
The mob must be controlled. We can't have a 
disturbance in the street." 

" Shall I go out and speak to the people?" 
asked the mayor. 

"Anything you please, gentlemen," rephed 
General Butler. " I only insist that order be 
maintained in the public streets." 

The mayor and other gentlemen addressed the 



76 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



crowd ; aud, as their remarks were enforced b\' the 
rumor of General Butler's order, there was a tem- 
porary lull in the storm. The crowd remained, 
however ; vast, fierce and sullen. 

The interview having been resumed, the may- 
or was proceeding to descant, in the high-flown 
rhetoric of the South, upon (Jencral Butler's for- 
mer advocacy of the rights of the southern states. 
The South had looked upon him as its special 
friend and champion, etc. 

"Stop, sir," said the general. "Let me set 
you right on that point at once. I was always 
a friend of southern rights, but an enemy of 
southern wrongs." 

The conversation was going on in an amicable 
strain, when another aid entered the apartment. 
Lieutenant Kinsman, of General Butler's staff, 
who requested a word with the general. 

This officer had bean sent to the fleet that 
morning in search of telegraphic operators. On 
board tlie Mississippi (the man-of-war, not the 
transport steamer), he was accosted bj' Judge 
Summers, who had sought refuge on board the 
ship, as we have before related. The unhappy 
judge, who was anxious to get to the city, re- 
quested Lieutenant Kinsman to take him on 
shore, and give him adequate protection against 
the mob, wlio, ho said, would tear him limb from 
limb, if they should catch him alono. The lieu- 
tenant, who had left the city perfectly quiet, was 
disposed to make light of the dauger ; but said 
he could go on shore with him if he chose, and 
he would endeavor to get him safe to the St. 
Charles. On reaching the levee. Lieutenant 
Kinsman impressed a hack into his service, and 
the two passengers were started for the hotel. 
Unluckily, the ex- recorder is a man of gigantic 
stature — six feet five, and of corresponding mag- 
nitude ; a man of such prouounced peculiarity of 
appearance, that even if he had never sat on tlio 
bench and thus become familiar to the eyes of 
scoundrels, he must have been known by sight 
to all who frequented the streets of the city. 
He was instantly recognized. A crowd gathered 
round the carriage, hooting, yelling, cursing; 
new hundreds rushing in from every street ; for 
all the men in the city were idle and abroad. 
Several times the carriage came to a stand; but 
Lieutenant Kinsman, pistol in hand, ordered the 
driver to go on, and kept him to his work, until 
they reached the troops guarding the hotel, 
where both succeeded in alighting and entering 
the building unharmed. 

Judge Summers was thoroughly unnerved, as 
most men would have been in the same circum- 
stances. A mob is of all wild beasts the most 
cowardly, the most easily managed by a man 
that is uuscarable by phanloms. The mob that 
attacked the Tribune office, last July, was scat- 
tered by tlie report of one pistol. I saw it done. 
Never have I seen the square in front of the 
building so bare of peojile as it was iu ten seconds 
after that solitary pislol was fired. But a mob 
is, at the same time, the most terrific thing to 
look at, especially if its vulgar and savage eye is 
fixed upon ynu, that can be imagined. Mr. 
Summers felt unsafe, oven in the hotel. "Give 
me some protection," said he; "they'll tear me 
all to pieces if they get in here ;" and it looked, 
at the time, as if tlie mob would get in. 

Hence it was, that Lieutenant Kinsman inter- 
rupted the general, and asked a word with hiui. 



General Butler came out, and heard the lieu- 
tenant's report. The ex-recorder said there was 
noplace in the St. Charles where he couldlje safe. 

"Well, then," said the general, "there's the 
Custom-IIouse over yonder ; that will hold you. 
You can go there, if )'ou choose." 

"But how can I get there? The mob will 
tear me to pieces." 

The general reflected a moment. Then said, 
assuming all the "major-general commanding:" 

" We may as well settle this question now as 
at any other time. Lieutenant Kinsman, take 
tliis man over to the Custom-IIouse. Take 
what force you require. If anv one molests or 
threatens you, arrest him. If a rescue is at- 
tempted, fire." 

Having said this, he returned to the confer- 
ence with the mayor, and Lieutenant Kinsman 
proceeded to obey the order. He conducted 
Mr. Summers to a side door, which he opened, 
and disclosed to the view of his charge a com- 
pact mass of infuriated men, held at bay by a 
company of fifty soldiers. 

" Don't attempt it," said the judge, recoiling 
from the sight. 

"I must," returned the lieutenant. "The 
general's orders were positive. I have no choice 
but to obey." 

The company of soldiers were soon drawn 
up in two lines, four feet apart, two men closing 
the front and two the rear of the column. In 
the open space were Lieutenant Kinsman and 
Mr. Summers. 

"Forward, march!" The column started. 
The crowd recognizing the giant judge, yelled 
and boiled around the slowly pushing column. 
The active men of the mob were not those 
within reach of the soldiers. The nearest men 
prudently held their peace and watched their 
chance. Consequently, no arrests were made 
until the column had gone half way to the Cus- 
tom-House. At that point stood an omnibus 
with one man in it, who was urging on the mob, 
by voice and gesture, with the violence of frenzy. 

" Halt ! Bring out that man !" 

Two soldiers sprang into the omnibus, collared 
the lunatic, drew him out, and placed him be- 
tween the lines, where he continued to yell and 
gesticulate in the most frantic manner. 

"Stop your noise I" thundered the lieutenant. 

" I won't," said the man; " my tongue is my 
own." 

"Sergeant , lower your bayonet. If a 

sound comes out of that man's mouth, run him 
through!" 

The mnn was silent. 

"Forward — march!" The column pushed on 
again, but very slowly. After going some dis- 
tance, the lieutenant perceived that one man, 
who had been particularly vociferous, was within 
clutching distance. 

" Halt — bring in that man," pointing him out. 

The man was seized and pi iced in tlic column. 
He continued to shout, but a lowered bayonet 
brought him to his senses also. The column 
puslied on again, and lodged the judge and the 
two prisoners safely in tlie impregnable Custom- 
IIouse, the citadel of New Orleans. The com- 
pany marched back, in the same order, through 
a crowd " as silent as a funeral," to use the Ueu- 
tenant's own language. 

This scene was witnessed from the windows 



LANDING- IN NEW OELEANS. 



77 



of the St. Charles by General Butler and hia 
stafl', and by the mayor and his friends, the con- 
ference being suspended by common consent. 
The general informs me, that the tirmness of 
Lieutenant Kinsman on this occasion, aided by 
the soldierly steadiness of the troops, and the 
perfect coolness of their officers, contributed 
most essentially to the subjugation of the mob 
of New Orleans. It was never so rampant 
again. The company was Captain Paige's of 
tlie Thirty-first Massachusetts. 

The reader perceives how it fared with the 
conference. The afternoon wore away amid 
these interruptions, and it was finally agreed to 
postpone farther conversation till the evouing, 
when all matters in dispute should be thoroughly 
discussed. By that time too, copies of the 
Proclamation would be ready from the True 
Delta office. So the mayor and his friends de- 
parted. 

In the dusk of the evening, a carriage having 
been with difficulty procured. General Butler, 
with a single orderly on the box, drove to the 
levee, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and 
went on board the transport Mississippi. Mrs. 
Butler and her maid had passed an anxious day 
there, ignorant of what was passing in the city. 
" Get ready to go on shore," said the general. 
The trunks were locked and strapped, and trans- 
ferred to the carriage. Mrs. Butler and her 
attendant took their places, the general followed 
tiiem, and the party were driven to the hotel 
without molestation or outcry. 

There was a curious tea-party that evening in 
the vast dining-room of the ISt. Charles, where 
hundreds of people had been wont to consume 
luxurious fire. At one end of one of the tables 
sat the little company, lost in the magnitude of 
the room — the general, Mrs. Butler, and two 
or three members of the staff. The fare was 
neither sumptuous nor abundant, and the soli- 
tary waiter was not at his ease, for he was doing 
an act that was death by the mob law of Now 
Orleans. The general entertained the company 
by reading choice extracts from the anonymous 
letters which he had received in the course of 
the day. " We'll get the better of you yet, old 
cock-eye," remarked one of his nameless cor- 
respondents. Another requested him to wait a 
month or two, and see what Yellow Jack would 
do for him. Another warned him to look out 
for poison in his food. Both the General and 
Mrs. Butler received many epistles of this nature 
during the first few weeks, as well as some of a 
highly eulogistic tenor. Occasionally the gen- 
eral would reply to one of the abusive letters in 
the manner following : 

" Madam ; I have received the letter in which 
you remark upon my conduct in New Orleans, 
which I regret does not meet your approbation. 
It may interest you to know that others view it 
in a very different light, and I, therefore, beg to 
inclose for your perusal a letter received this 
day, in which my administration is commented 
upon in a strain different from that in which you 
have done me the honor to review it. I am, 
madam," etc. 

As the frugal repast in the St. Charles was 
drawing to a close, a band on the balcony in 
front of the building, in full view of the crowd, 
struck up the Star Spangled Banner, filling the 
void immensity of the dining-room with a deaf- 



ening noise. The band continued to play during 
the evening, the crowd standing silent and 
sullen. 

Our business, however, lies this evening in the 
ladies' parlor. It is a spacious, lofty and elegant 
apartment. On one side, in a largo semi-circle, 
sat the representatives of New Orleans, the 
mayor, the common council, other magnates, and 
Mr. Pierre Soule, spokesman and orator of the 
occasion. Mr. Soule had long been the special 
favorite of the Creole population ; popular, also, - 
with all his fellow-citizens ; a kind of pet, or 
ladies' delight among them ; renowned, too, at 
the bar. New Yorkers may call him, if they 
please, the James T. Brady of New Orleans. la 
appearance he Is not unlike Napoleon Bona- 
parte — about the stature, complexion and gen- 
eral style of Napoleon ; only with an eye of 
marvelous brilliancy, and hair worn very long, 
black as night. A melodious, fluent, graceful, 
courteous man, formed to take captive the hearts 
of listening men and women. Of an independent 
turn of mind, too ; not too tractable in the 
courts ; not one of those who made haste to 
sever the ties that had bound them to their 
country. He appears to have accepted secession 
as a fact accomplished, rather than helped to 
make it such. In conventions and elsewhere, 
General Butler had often met him before to-day, 
and their intercourse had always been amicable. 

On tho opposite side of the room, also in a 
semi-circle, sat general Butler and his staff, in 
full uniform, brushed for the occasion. Readers 
are familiar with those annihilating caricatures, 
which are called photographs of General Butler. 
In truth, the general has an imposing presence. 
Not tall, but of well- developed form, and fine, 
massive head ; not graceful in movement, but 
of firm, solid aspect ; self-possessed ; not silver- 
tongued, not fluent, like Mr. Soule; on the con- 
trary, he is slow of speech, often hesitates and 
labors, can not at once bring down the sledge- 
hammer squarely on tho anvil; but down it 
comes at last with a ring that is remembered. 
It is only in the heat and tempest of contention, 
that he acquires the perfect use of his parts ol 
speech. A lady who may, for anything I know, 
have been peeping into the room this evening 
from some coigne of vantage, compares the two 
combatants on this occasion to Richard and Sala- 
din, as described by Scott in the Talisman ; 
where Saladin, all alertness and grace, cuts the 
silk with gleaming, swiftest cimeter, and burly 
Richard, with ponderous broad-sword, which 
only he could wield, severs the bar of iron. 

General Butler opened the conversation by 
saying that the object for which he had re- 
quested the attendance of the mayor and coun- 
cil, was to explain to them the principles upon 
which he intended to govern the department to 
which he had been assigned, and to learn from 
them how far they were disposed to co-operate 
with him. He added that he had prepared a 
proclamation to the people of New Orleans, 
which expressed hia intentions; and which he 
would now read. After reading it he would be 
happy to listen to any remarks from gentlemen 
representing the people of the city. He then 
read the proclamation. 

" The sum and substance of the whole,'' 
added General Butler, " is this : I wish to leave 
the municipal authority in the full exercise of its 



78 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



accustomed functions. I do not desire to inter- 
fere with tiie collection of taxes, the government 
of the police, the lighting and cleaning of the 
streets, the sanitary laws, or the administration 
of justice. I desire only to govern the military 
forces of the department, and to take cognizance 
only of oS'enses committed by or against them. 
Representing liere the United States, it is my 
wish to contine myself solely to the business of 
sustaining the government of the United States 
against its enemies." 

Mr. Soiilo replied. He said, that bis first con- 
cern was (or the tranquillity of the city, which, 
he felt sure, could not be maintained so long as 
the federal troops remained within its limits. 
He therefore urged and implored General Butler 
to remove the troops to the outskirts of the 
town, where the liourlj' sight of them would not 
irritate a sensitive and high-spirited people. '•! 
know the feelings of the people so well," said 
he, " that I am sure your soldiers can have no 
peace while they remain in our midst." The 
Proclamation, he added, would give great of- 
fcnse. The people would never submit. They 
were not conquered, and could not be expected 
to behave as a conquered people. " Withdraw 
your troops, general, and leave the city govern- 
ment to manage its own aflairs. If the troops 
remain, there w ill certainly be trouble." 

This absurd line of remark — absurd as a reply 
to the general's proposals — fired the commander 
of the department of the gulf He spoke, bow- 
ever, in a measured though decisive manner. 

"I did not expect," said he, "to hear from 
Mr. Soule a threat on this occasion. I have 
been long accustomed to hear threats from 
southern gentlemen in political conventions; 
but let mo assure gentlemen present, that the 
time for tactics of that nature has passed never 
to return. New Orleans is a conquered city. 
If not, why are we here? How did we get 
here? Have you opened your arms and bid 
us welcome? Are we here by your consent? 
Would you or would you not, expel us if you 
could ? New Orleans has been conquered by 
the forces of the United States, and by the laws 
of all nations, lies subject to the will of the con- 
querors. Nevertheless, I have proposed to leave 
the municipal government to the free exercise 
of all its powers, and I am answered by a 
threat." 

Mr. Soule disclaimed the intention to threaten 
the troops. Ho had desired merely to state 
what, in his opinion, would be the consequences 
of their remaining. 

" Gladly," continued General Butler, "will I 
take every man of the army out of New Orleans 
the very day, the very hour it is demonstrated 
to me that the city government can protect mo 
from insult or danger, if I choose to ride alone 
from one end of the city to the other, or accom- 
panied by one gentleman of my stall'. Your in- 
ability to govern the insulting, irreligious, un- 
washed mob in your midst, has been clearl}- 
proved by the insults of your rowdies toward 
my officers and men this very afternoon, and bj' 
the fact that General Lovell was obliged to pro- 
claim martial law while his army occupied your 
city, to protect the law abiding citizens from the 
rowdies. I do not proclaim martial law against 
the respectable citizens of this place, but against 
the same class that obliged General Wilknison, 



General Jackson, and General Lovell to declare 
it. I have means of knowing more about your 
city than you think, and I am aware that at 
this hour there is an organization here established 
for the purpose of assassinating my men by de- 
tail ; but I warn you that if a shot is fired from 
any house, that house will never again cover a 
mortal's head ; and if I can discover the perpe- 
trator of the deed, the place that now knows 
him shall know him no more for ever. I have 
the power to suppress this unruly element iu 
your midst, and 1 mean so to use it, that in a 
very short period, I shall be able to ride through 
the entire city, free from insult and danger, or 
else this metropolis of the South shall bo a 
desert, from the plains of Chalmeite to the out- 
skirts of Carrolton." 

Mr. Soule, iu reply, delivered an oration, the 
beauty and grace of which were admired by all 
who heard it. I regret that we have no report 
of his speech. It was, in part, a defense and 
eulogy of New Orleans, and, in part, a secession 
speech of the usual tenor, illumined by the 
rhetoric of an accomplished speaker. He said 
that New Orleans contained a smaller proportion 
of the mob element than any other city of equal 
bize, and that the proclamation of martial law by 
General Lovell was aimed, not at the mob, but 
at the Union men and " traitors" in their midst. 

The conversation then turned to a topic of 
immense moment to the people of the city, the 
supply- of provisions. The general said he had 
determined to issue permits to dealers and others, 
which should protect them iu bringing in pro- 
visions from a certain distance beyond his lines. 
The awfiil situation of the poor of the city should 
have his immediate attention; in the mean time, 
the Confederate currency in their hands should 
be allowed to circulate, since manj- of thezn had 
nothing else of the nature of money. 

After much farther discussion, the general 
being immovable, the mayor announced, that the 
functions of the city government would be at 
once suspended, and the general could do with 
the city as seemed to him good. 

A member of the council promptly interposed, 
saying that a matter of so much importance 
should not be disposed of until it had been con- 
sidered and acted upon by the common council. 
The mayor assented. General Butler offered no 
o'ojection. It was finally agreed that the coun- 
cil should confer upon the subject the next 
morning, and make known the result of their 
deliberations to the general in the course of the 
day. The gentlemen then withdrew; the crowd 
iu the streets gradually dispersed, and the city 
enjoyed a tranquil night. 

The next morning, the Proclamation was pub- 
lished; i. e., handbills, containing it, were freely 
given to all who would take one. Two impor- 
tant appointments were also announced : Major 
Joseph \V. Boll, to be provost-judge, aud Col- 
onel Jonas H. French, to be provost-marshal. 
Colonel French notified the people, by hand-bill, 
that he " as.-<unKd the position of provost-mar- 
shal, for the purpose of carrying out such of the 
provisions of the Proclamation of the general 
conunanding within this department, as were not 
left to municipal action. * * Particu- 

larly does he call attention to the prohibition 
against assemblages of persons in the streets; 
the sale of liquor to soldiers; the necessity for 



LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS. 



79 



a license on the part of keepers of public houses, 
coffee-bouses, and diinkino- saloons: to the post- 
ing of placards about the streets, giving infor- 
mation concerning the action or movements of 
rebel troops, and the pubhshing in the newspa- 
pers of notices or resolutions laudatory of llie 
enemies of the United States. " The soldiers of 
this command are subject, upon the part of some 
low-minded persons, to insult. Tiiis must stop. 
Repetition will lead to instant arrest and pun- 
ishment. In the performance of his duties the 
undersigned will, in no degree trench upon the 
regularly established police of the city, but will 
confine himself simply to the performance of 
such acts as were to bo assumed by the military 
authorities of the United States ; and, in such 
action, he hopes to meet with tlie ready co-oper- 
ation of all who have the welfare of the city at 
heart." 

At noon, the foreign consuls waited upon Gen- 
eral Butler, accompanied by General Juge, com- 
manding the European Brigade. The interview 
was in the highest degree amicable and cour- 
teous. General Butler explained to the consuls 
the line of conduct he had marked out for him- 
self, and related the leading points of his proposal 
to the mayor and council, whose reply he was 
then awaiting. He also assured the consuls, 
that nothing should be wanting on his part, to 
facilitate the discharge of their public duties. 
His most earnest desire, he said, was to confine 
his attention to his military duty, and leave all 
public functionaries, domestic and Ibreign, to the 
unrestrained discharge of their vocations. He 
warmly thanked General Juge for his eminent 
services during the last week, expressed regret 
that he had disbanded his men, hoped he would 
reorganize them, and aid him in maintaining or- 
der. The gentlemen retired, apparently well 
pleased with what they had heard. They all 
shook hands with the general at jjarting. 

A delegation fi-om the common council nest 
appeared, who informed the general that his pro- 
posal of the evening before was accepted. The 
city government should go on as usual ; but 
they reque.sted that the troops should be with- 
drawn li'om the vicinity of the City Hall, that 
the authorities might not seem to be acting under 
military dictation. This request was granted : 
the troops were withdrawn. 

The general went farther. He sent a consid- 
erable body of troops under General Phelps to 
CarroUton, where a permanent camp was formed. 
A brigade under General Williams soon went up 
the river with Captain Farragut, to take posses- 
sion of and hold Baton Rouge. Otiier troops 
were posted in the various forts upon the lakes 
abandoned by the enemy. Others were at Al- 
giers. The camps in the squares of the city 
were broken up. When all the troops were 
posted, there remained in the -city, during the 
first few weeks, two hundred and fifty men : and 
these men were lodged in the Custom-House, 
and served merely as a provost-guard. Mr. 
Soule, therefore, had his desire, or nearly so, for 
the general was fully resolved to omit no fair 
means of conciliating the people, and winning 
ihem back to their allegiance. 

Thus, by the end of the third day, the city 
was tranquil, and there seemed a prospect of 
the two sets of auihoriiies going on peacefully 



together, each keeping to its own department; 
General Butler governing the army, and extend- 
ing the area of conquest ; the mayor and council 
ruling the city, aided, if necessary, by General 
Juge and his brigade. This was the theory 
upon wliich General Butler began his memorable 
administration. This was the ofler wliich he 
sincerely made to the people and government of 
the city. We shall discover, in time, whose fault 
it was that the theory proved so signally un- 
tenable. 

. The comments of the press of Xew Orleans 
upon the new order of things, were far more 
favorable to General Butlei' tlian could have 
been expected. The True Ddta frankly ad- 
mitted the trutli oftliat part of the Proclamation 
which gave to the European Brigade the credit 
of having preserved the city. " K'or seven years 
past," said tlie True Delta, of May 6th, "the 
world knows that this city, in all its depart- 
ments — judicial, legislative, and executive — has 
been at the absolute disposal of the most godh-ss, 
brutal, ignorant and ruthless rufQanism the world 
has ever heard of since the days of the great 
Roman conspirator. By means of a secret or- 
ganization emanating from that fecund source of 
every political infamy, New England, and named 
Know iSTothiugisin or ' Sammyisni' — from the 
boasted exclusive devotion of the fraternity to 
the United States — our city, from being the 
abode of decency, of liberality, geneiosity and 
justice, has become a perfect hell ; the temples 
of justice are sanctuaries for crimes; the min- 
isters of the laws, the nominees of blood-stained, 
vulgar, ribald caballers ; licensed murderers shed 
innocent blood on the most public thoroughfares 
with impunity ; witnesses of the most atrocious 
crimes are either spirited away, bought off, or 
intimidated from testifying ; perjured associates 
are retained to prove alibis, and ready bail is 
always procurable for the immediate use of those 
wliom it is not inunediately prudent to enlarge 
otherwise. The electoral system is a farce and 
a fraud ; the kuife, the sluug-shot, the brass 
knuckles determining, while the sliam is being 
enacted, who shall occupy and administer the 
offices of the municipality and the common- 
wealth. Can our condition then sia-priso any 
man? Is it, either, a fair ground for reproach 
to the well-disposed, kind-hearted and intehigent 
fixed population of New Orleans, that institutions 
and offices designed fur the safety of their persons, 
tlie security of their property, and maintenance 
of their fair repute and unsullied honor, should 
by a band of couspirators, in possession by force 
and fraud of the electoral machinery, be diverted 
from their legitimate uses and made engines of 
the most insupportable oppression ? We accept 
the reproach in the Proclamation, as every Loui- 
sianian alive to the honor and tair fame of his 
state and chief city must accept it, with bowed 
heads and brows abashed." 

The Bee oi May 8th said: "The mayor and 
municipal authorities have been allowed to retain 
their power and privileges in everything uncon- 
nected with military afiairs. The lederal soldiers 
do not seem to interfere with the private property 
of the citizens, and have done nothing that we 
are aware of to provoke difficulty. The u.sual 
nightly reports of arrests for vagrancy, assaults, 
wounding and kUling have unquestionably been 



80 



FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 



diminished. The city is as tranquil and peacea- 
ble as in the most quiet times." 



CnAPER XIII. 

FEEDING AKD EMPLOYING THE POOR. 

New Orleans was in danger of starving. It 
contained a populaliou of, perha[)s, one hundred 
and fiftj' tlious.md, for wliom there was in the 
city about tliirty days' supply of jDrovisions, held 
at prices beyond tlie means of all but tlie rich. 
A barrel of Hour could not be bought for sixty 
dollars ; the markets were empty, the provision 
stores closed. Tlie trade with Mobile, which 
had formerly ^\hitened the lakes and the sound 
with sails, was cut oif. The Texas drovers had 
ceased to bring in cattle, and no steamboats 
from the Ked River country were running. The 
lake coasts were desolate and half-deserted, 
because the trade with New Orleans had ceased, 
and because the locusts of secession had de- 
voured their substance. 

New Orleans was thus a starving city, in the 
midst of an impoverished country. The river 
planters, who had been wont to send marketiug 
to the city, now feared to trust iheir sloops, their 
produce and their slaves, within the lints of an 
army which they liad been taught to believe 
was bent on plunder only. A large proportion 
of the men of New Orleans were away with the 
Confederate armies, at Sliiloh, in Virginia, and 
elsewhere, having lelt wives and children, mis- 
tresses and their offspring, to tlie public cliarge. 
The city taxes were a miUion dollars in arrears; 
and the city government, it was soon discovered, 
was expending its energies and its ingenuity 
upon a business more congenial than that of 
providing for the poor ; namely, that of frustrat- 
ing and exasperating the commander of the 
Union army. In a word, fifty thousand human 
beings in New Orleans saw before them a pros- 
pect, not of want, not of a long struggle with 
adversity, but of starvation ; and that immediate, 
to-morrow or the next day ; and General Butler, 
wielding the power and resources of the United 
States, alone could save tliem. 

To tins task he addressed himself; it neces- 
sarily had the precedence of all other work 
during the tirst few days. If wo confine our- 
selves to this topic for a sliort time, so as to show 
in one view all that General Butler did for the 
poor of New Orleans, the reader wiil please bear 
in mind, that the commanding general was by 
no means able to conlino his attention to it. He 
liad everything to do at once. Tlie business of 
the city was dead ; he strove to revive it. Con- 
tideuco in the honest intentions of tlie Union 
authorities did not exist ; ho endeavored to call 
it into being. The currency was deranged ; it 
was his duty to rectify it. The secessionists 
were audaciously diligent ; he had to circumvent 
and repress them. The yellow fi^ver season was 
at hand ; he was resolved to ward it off. The 
city government was obstructive and hostile ; it 
Wiis his business to frustrate their endeavors. 
Tlio negro problem loomed up, vast and por- 
tentous ; he liad to act upon it without delay, 
f he banks were in disorder ; tlieir all'airs de- 
manded his attention. Tlie consulates were so 



many centers of hostile operations ; he had to 
penetrate their mysteries. His army was con- 
siderable, his fitld of operatio^i immense; he 
could not neglect the chief business of his mis- 
sion. All these affairs claimed his immediate 
attention, and had it. But thougii a thousand 
events may occur simultaneously, it is not con- 
venient to relate them simultaneously. We shall 
have sometimes to disregard the order of time, 
and pursue one subject or class of sabjects to the 
end. 

General Butler's first measures for the supply 
of the city were taken upon the suggestion of 
the city magnates. Orders were promulgated on 
the third day of the occupation of the city, 
which permitted steamboats to ply to Mobile 
and the Red River and bring to the city provis- 
ions, but only provisions. Tlie directors of tho 
Opelousas Railroad received permits to run 
trains for the same purpose. 

For the immediate relief of the poor, General 
Butler gave from his own resources a thousand 
dollars, half in money, half in provisions. His 
brother, Colonel A. J. Butler, who found himself^ 
by the action of the senate, without employment 
in New Orleans, and having both capital and 
credit at command, embarked in tlie business of 
bringing cattle from Texas, to the great advan- 
tage of the city and his own considerable profit. 
The quartermaster's chest being empty. General 
Butler placed all the money of his own, which he 
could raise, at his disposal. Provisions soon be- 
gan to arrive, but not in the requisite quantities. 
At the end of a month, flour had fallen to twen- 
ty-four dollars a barrel ; but nearly nineteen 
huudred families were daily fed at the public 
expense, and thousands more barely contrived to 
subsist. 

It immediately appeared that every one of the 
passes and permits issued by the general, in ac- 
cordance with the ordersjust given, was abused, 
to tho aid and comfort of secession. It was dis- 
covered that provisions were secretly sent out of 
the city to feed General Lovell's troops. It was 
ascertained that Charles Ileidsieck, one of the 
champagne Heidsiccks, had come from Mobile 
in the provision steamboat, disguised as a bar- 
keeper, and conveyed letters to and from that 
city ; an olfense which consigned liini speedily to 
Fort Jackson. Nor did the city government stir 
in the business of providing for the poor; not a 
dollar was voted, not a relieving act was passed. 
The city was reeking, too, with the accumulated 
filth of many weeks, tho removal of which 
would liave alForded employment to many hun- 
gry men ; but it was suffered to I'emain, inviting 
the yellow fever. 

General Butler, on the 9th of May, reminded 
the mayor and council of the compact between 
liimself and the city authorities made five days 
before. " I desire," said he, " to call your atten- 
tion to the sanitary condition of your streets. 
Having assumed, by tlio choice of your fellow- 
citizens, and the permission of the United States 
authorities, the care of the city of New Orleans 
in this belialt; that trust must bo faithfully admin- 
istered. Resolutions and inaction will not do. 
Active, energetic measures, fully and promptly 
executed, are imperatively demanued by the exi- 
gencies of the occasion. The present suspension 
of labor furnislies timplo supplies of hungry men, 
who can be profitably employed to this end. A 



FEEDING AND EMPLOTINQ THE POOR 



!1 



tithe of the labor and effort spent upon tho streets 
and public squares, whicli was uselessly and in- 
anely wasted upon idle fortifications, like that 
about the United States Mint, will place tiio oity 
in a condition to insure the liealth of its inhabit- 
ants. It will not do to shift the responsibility 
from yourselves to the street commissioners, 
froip thence to the contractor, and thence to the 
sub-contractors, and through all the grades of 
ci\ic idleness and neglect of duty. Three days 
since I called the attention of Mr. Mayor to the 
subject, but nothing has been done." 

The mayor boldly replied that three hundred 
extra men had been set to work upon the streets. 
No such force could be discovered by the optics 
of the Union officers. Steps may have been 
taken toward the employment of men, and even 
"extra men," in cleaning the city ; but it is cer- 
tain that, up to tho ninth of May, no street- 
cleaners wore actually at work. The weather 
was extremely hot, and the need of purification 
was manifest and pressing. 

On the same day, G-eneral Butler issued'one of 
his startling general orders, the terms and tone 
of which were doubtless influenced by the may- 
or's audacious reply, as well as by the abuse of 
the passes which admitted food to a starving city. 

" New Orleans, May 9, 1862. 

" The deplorable state of destitution and hun- 
ger of the mechanics and working classes of this 
city has been brought to the knowledge of the 
commanding general. 

"He has yielded to every suggestion made by 
the city government, and ordered every method 
of furnishing food to the people of New Orleans 
that government desired. No relief by those 
officials has yet been afforded. This hunger does 
not pinch the wealthy and influential, the leaders 
of the rebellion, who have gotten up this war, 
and are now endeavoring to prosecute it, without 
regard to the starving poor, the workingman, his 
wife and child. Unmindful of their suffering 
fellow-citizens at home, the^^ have caused or suf- 
fered provisions to be carried out of the city for 
Confederate service since the occupation by 
the United States forces. 

"Lafayette Square, their home of affluence, 
was made the depot of stores and munitions of 
war for the rebel armies, and not of provisions 
for their poor neighbors. Striking hands with 
the vile, the gambler, the idler, and the rufBan, 
they have destroyed the sugar and cotton which 
miglit have been exchanged for food for the in- 
dustrious and good, and regrated the price of that 
which is left, by discrediting the very currency 
they had furnislied, while they eloped with tlie 
specie ; as well that stolen from the United States, 
as from the banks, the property of the good 
people of New Orleans, thus leaving them to ruin 
and starvation. 

"Fugitives from justice many of them, and 
others, their associates, staying because too puer- 
ile and insignificant to be objects of punishment 
by the clement government of the United States. 

" They have betrayed their country : 

"They have been false to every trust: 

" They have shown themselves incapable of 
defending the state they had seized upon, al- 
though they have forced every poor man's child 
into their service as soldiers for that purpose, 
while they made their sons and nephews officers: 



" They can not protect those whom they have 
ruined, but have left them to the mercies and 
assassinations of a chronic mob : 

" They wUl not feed those whom they are 
starving: 

" Mostly without property themselves, they 
have plundered, stolen, and destroyed tho means 
of those who had property, leav-ing children pen- 
niless and old age hopeless. 

" Men of Louisiana, workingmen, prop- 
erty-holders, MERCHANTS, AND CITIZENS OF 
THE United States, of whatever nation you 
may have had birth, how long will you uphold 
these flagrant wrongs, and, by inaction, suffer 
yourselves to be made the serfs of these 
leaders ? 

" The United States have sent land and naval 
forces here to fight and subdue rebellious armies 
in array against her authority. We find, sub- 
stantially, only fugitive masses, runaway pro- 
perty-burners, a whisky-drinking mob, and starv- 
ing citizens with their wives and children. It is 
our duty to call back the first, to punish the sec- 
ond, root out the third, feed and protect the last 

" Ready only for war, we had not prepared 
ourselves to feed the hungry and relieve the 
distressed with provisions. But to the extent 
possible, within the power of the commanding 
general, it shall be done. 

" He has captured a quantity of beef and 
sugar intended for the rebels in the field. A 
thousand barrels of these stores will be distribu- 
ted among the deserving poor of this city, from 
whom the rebels had plundered it; even al- 
though some of the food will go to supply the 
craving wants of the wives and children of 
those now herding at ' Camp Moore' and else- 
where, in arms against the United States. 

" Captain John Clark, acting chief commissary 
of subsistence will be charged with the execu- 
tion of this order, and will give public notice of 
the place and manner of distribution, which 
will be arranged, as far as possible, so that the 
unworthy and dissolute will not share its bene- 
fits." 

Another measure of relief was adopted when 
the arrival of stores from New York had deliv- 
ered the army itself from the danger of scarcity. 
The chief commissary was authorized to "sell 
to families for consumption, in small quantities, 
until farther orders, flour and salt meats, viz : 
pork, beef, ham, and bacon, from the stores of 
the army, at seven and a half cents per pound 
for flour and ten cents for meats. City bank- 
notes, gold, silver, or treasury notes to be taken 
in payment." 

The city government still neglecting the 
streets. General Butler conceived the idea of 
combining the relief of the poor with the purifi- 
cation of the city. There was nothing upon 
which ho was more resolved than the disap- 
pointment of rebel hopes with regard to the 
yellow fever. He understood the yellow fever, 
knew the secret of its visitations, felt himself 
equal to a successful contest with it. June 
fourth (the mayor of the city being then in a 
state of suppression at Fort Jackson, for acts 
yet to be related), the general sketched his plan 
in a letter to General Shepley and the common 
council. 

General Shepley communicated this letter to 



82 



FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 



the council, who readily adopted the plan, and 
appointed a gentleman to superintend their 
pliare in it. On the part of the United States, 
General Shepley named Colonel T. B. Thorpe, 
the woll-knowu author of the "Bee Iluutcr," 
who had received the appointment of city sur- 
veyor. The entire management of the two 
thousand laborers fell to Colonel Thorpe, as his 
colleague refused to take the oath of allegiance 
to the United States, which General Butler 
made a sine qua non. No man could have done 
the work better. Ho waged incessant and most 
successful war \ipon nuisances. He tore away 
shanties, filled up hollows, purged the canals, 
cleaned the streets, repaired the levee, and kept 
the city in such perfect cleanliness as extorted 
praise from the bitterest foes of his country and 
his chief In gangs of twenty-five, each under 
an overseer, the street-sweepers pervaded the 
city. 

" It was a reflecting sight," says an cye-wit- 
uess, " to behold these men on the highways 
and by-ways, with their shovels and brooms; 
and it was still more gratifying to notice and to 
feel the happy effects of their work. The street 
/ cleaning commenced, the colonel then undertook 
the distribution of the food to the fomilies of the 
laborers, and this was a task of no ordinary 
magnitude. A thousand halfstarved women, 
made impatient by days of starvation, brought 
in contact and lefl to struggle at the entrance of 
some ill-arranged establishment, for their food 
and rights, was a formidable subject of contem- 
plation ; so the colonel organized a distributing 
department, and so well managed his plans that 
the food is being given out with all the quietness 
of a popular grocery. To secure the object of 
the charity, he had tickets printed that made the 
delivery of the food to the women only ; in this 
way it was carried into the family, consumed by 
the helpless, and not sold by the unprincipled 
for rum. The moment Colonel Thorpe's name 
appeared in the papers, he was flooded with let- 
ters calling his attention to nui.sances, the people 
acting voluntarily as street inspectors. By a 
judicious distribution of labor, in a few days the 
change became a subject of comment, some of 
the most ferocious secessionists admitting 'that 
the federals could clean the streets, if they 
couldn't do anything else.' " * 

Colonel Thorpe's labors were permanently 
beneficial to the city in many ways. The freaks 
of the ^Mississippi river constantly create new 
land within the city limits. This land, which is 
called batturc (shoal), requires the labor of man 
before it is completely rescued from the domains 
of the river. It is computed that Colonel 
Thorpe's skillfully directed exertions upon the 
batture added to the city a quantity of land 
worth a million of dollars. 

And this leads us to the most remarkable of 
all the circumstances attending General Butler's 
relief of the poor of New Orleans. He not only 
made it profitable to the city, but he managed it 
so as not to add one dollar to the expenditures 
of his own government. At a time when thirty- 
five thousand persons were supported by the 
public funds, he could still boast, and with literal 
truth, that it cost the United States nothing. 
"You are the cheapest general we have employ- 

• Correspondect of i\reic York Times, July 21, 1862. 



ed," said Mr. Chase, when ajknovvledging the 
return of twenty-five thousand dollars in gold, 
which had been sent to General Butler's com- 
missary. 

The following general order explains tho 
secret : 

"Nbw Orleans, Augufit 4, 1862. 
"It appears that tho need of relief to the des- 
titute poor of tho city requires more extended 
measures and greater outlay than Jiave yet been 
made. 

" It becomes a question, in justice, upon whom 
should this burden fdl. 

"Clearly upon those who have brought this 
great c;damity upon their fellow-citizens. 

" It should not be borne by taxation of the 
whole municipality, because the middling and 
working men have never been heard at the bal- 
lot-box, unawed by threats and unineaaced by 
'Thugs' and paid assassins of conspirators 
against peace and good order. Be.sides, more 
than tho vote that was claimed for secession 
have taken the oath of allegiance to the United 
States. 

" The United States government does its share 
when it protects, defends, and preserves the peo- 
ple in the enjoyment ol' law, order, and calm 
quiet. 

" Those who have brought upon tho city this 
stagnation of business, this desolation of the 
hearth-stone, this starvation of the poor and 
helpless, should, as far as they may be able, 
relieve these distresses. 

"There are two classes whom it would seem 
peculiarly fit should at first contribute to this 
end. First, those individuals and corporations 
who have aided the rebellion with their means ; 
and second, those who have endeavored to de- 
stroy the commercial prosperity of the city, upon 
which the welfare of its inhabitants depend. 

" It is brought to the knowledge of the com- 
manding general that a subscription of twelve 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made by 
the corporate bodies, business firms, and persons 
whose names are set forth in schedule ' A' an- 
nexed to this order, and that sum placed in the 
hands of an illegal body known as the " Com- 
mittee of Public Safety,' ibr the treasonable 
purpose of defending the city against the govern- 
ment of the United States, untler whose humane 
rule the city of New Orleans had enjoyed such 
unexampled prosperity, that her warehouses 
were filled with trade of all nations who came to 
share her freedom, to take part in the benefits 
of her commercial superiority, and thus she was 
made the representative mart of the world. 

" The stupidity and wastefulness with which 
this immense sum was spent was only equaled 
by the folly which led to its being raised at all. 
The subscribers to this fund, by this very act, 
betray their treasonable designs and their ability 
to pay at least a much smaller tax for the relief 
of tlieir destitute and starving neigbors. 

"Schedule ' B' is a list of cotton brokers, who, 
claiming to control that great interest in New 
Orleans, to which she is so much indebted for 
her wealth, published in the newspapers, in 
October, 1801, a manifesto deliberately advising 
the planters not to bring their produce to the 
cit\', a measure which brought ruin at the same 
time upon the producer and tho city. 

" This act suflicieully testifies tho malignity 



FEEDING AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 



of those traitors, as well to the government as 
tlioir nei<rhbors, and it is to be regretted that 
their ability to relieve their fellow-citizens is not 
equal to their facilities for injuring them. 

" In taxing both these classes to relievo the 
suffering poor of New Orleans, yea, even though 
the needy be the starving wives and children of 
those in arms at Richmond and elsewhere against 
the United States, it will be impossible to make 
a mistake save in having the assessment too 
easy and the burden too light. 

"It is therefore Ordered — 

" 1st. That the sums in schedules annexed, 
marked ' A' and ' B,' set against the names of 
the several persons, business tirms and corpora- 
tions herein described, be and hereby are as- 
sessed upon each respectively. 

" 2d. That said sums be paid to Lieutenant 
David C. G-. Field, financial clerk, at his office in 
the Custora-House, on or before Monday, the 
11th instant, or that the property of the delin- 
qifbnt be forthwith seized and sold at public 
auction, to pay the amount, with all necessary 
charges and expenses, or the party imprisoned 
till paid. 

" 3d. The money raised by this assessment to 
be a fund for the purpose of providing employ- 
ment and food for the deserving poor people of 
New Orleans." 

The promised schedules followed. The first 
contained ninety-five names, arranged thus : 

SCHEDULE A. 

List of subscribers to the Million and a Quarter 
Loan, placed in the hands of the Committee 
of Public Safety, for the defense of New 
Orleans against the United States, and ex- 
pended by them some $38,000. 

Sums subscribed Sums assessed 

to aid tienson to relieve the 

against tlie poor by tlie 

United States. United States. 

Abat, Generes & Co. . .$210,000 $52,500 

Jonathan Montgomery. . 40,000 10,000 
Thos. Sloo, President Sua 

Insurance Co 50,000 12,500 

C.C.Gaines 2,000 500 

C. C. Gaines & Co 3,000 750 

The sum yielded by this schedule was $312,- 
716.25. The second schedule, which contained 
ninety-four names, began thus : 

SCHEDULE B. 

List of Cotton Brokers of New Orleans who pub- 
lished in the Orescent, in October last, a card 
advising planters not to send produce to New 
Orleans, in order to induce foreign intervention 
in behalf of the rebellion. 

Sums assessed to relieve 

the starving poor by 

the United States. 

Hewitt, Norton & Co $500 

West & Villerie 250 

S.E.Belknap 100 

Brander, Chambliss & Co 500 

Lewis & Oglesby 100 

The amount of this assessment was $29,200. 



General Order, No. 55, placed at the disposal of 
General Butler, for tho support of the poor of the 
city, the sum of $341,916.25. 

The effect produced by a measure so boldly 
just, upon the minds of the ruling class of New 
Orleans, can scarcely be imagined. It was tlie 
more stunning from the fact, that after three 
months' experience of General Butler's govern- 
ment, his orders were known to be tho irrever- 
sible fiat of irresistible power. Every man who 
saw his name on either catalogue, was perfectly 
aware that the sum annexed thereto must be 
paid on or before the designated day. Protest 
he might, but pay he must. Money iirst; argu- 
ment afterwards. 

Tho loyal and humorous Delta assured the 
gentlemen, and with perfect truth, that lamen- 
tations would not do. " The poor must be em- 
ployed and fed, and you must disgorge. It will 
never do to have it said, that while you lie back 
on cushioned divans, tasting turtle, and sipping 
the wine cup, dressed in fine linen, and rolling 
in lordly carriages — that gaunt hunger stalked in 
the once busy streets, and poverty flo\itod its 
rags for the want of the privilege to work." 

There was but one court of appeal in New 
Orleans, open to distressed secessionists — the 
consulate of the country of which he could 
claim to be a citizen. The consuls lent a sympa- 
thizing ear to all complaints, and willingly for- 
warded them to their ministers at Washington ; 
who, in turn, laid them before the secretary of 
state. The protest of some of the " neutrals" 
in New Orleans gave General Butler the oppor- 
tunity to vindicate the justice of Order No. 55, 
and he performed the task with a master's hand. 

"When," said he, "I took possession of New 
Orleans, I f^und tho city nearly on the verge of 
starvation, but thirty days' provision in it, and 
the poor utterly without the means of procuring 
what food there was to be had. 

" I endeavored to aid the city government in 
the work of feeding the poor ; but I soon found 
that the very distribution of food was a mean.s 
faithlessly used to encourage tho rebellion. I 
was obliged, therefore, to take the whole matter 
into my own hands. It became a subject of 
alarming importance and gravity. It "became 
necessary to provide from some source the funds 
to procure the food. They could not be raised 
by city taxation, in the ordinary form. These 
taxes were 'in arrears to more than a million of 
dollars. Besides, it would be unjust to tax the 
loyal citizens and honestly neutral foreigner, to 
provide for a state of things brought about by 
the rebels and disloyal foreigners related to them 
by ties of blood, marriage, and social relation, 
who had conspired and labored together to over- 
throw the authority of the United States, and 
establish the very result which was to be met. 

"Farther, in order to have a contribution 
effective, it must be upon those who have wealth 
to answer it. 

" There seemed to me no such fit subjects for 
such taxation as the cotton brokers who had 
brought the distress upon the city, by thus 
paralyzing commerce, and the subscribers to the 
rebel loan, who had money to invest for purposes 
of war, so advertised and known. 

" With these convictions, I issued General 
Order No. 55, which will explain itself and have 



84 



FEEDI^'G AND EMPLOYING THE POOR. 



raised nearly the amount of tax therein set 
forth. 

" But for what purpose ? Not a dollar has 
gone in any way to the use of the United States. 
I am now employing one thousand poor laborers, 
as matter of chanty, uj^on the streets and 
wharves of the city, from this fund. I am dis- 
tributing food to preserve from starvation nine 
thou-and seven hundred and seven families, con- 
taining ' thirty-two thousand four hundred and 
fifty souls' daily, and this done at an expense of 
seventy thousand dollars per month. I am sus- 
taining, at an expense of two thousand dollars 
per month, five asylums for widows and orphans. 
I am aiding the Charity Hospital to the extent 
of five thousand dollars per month. 

"Before their excellencies, the French and 
Prussian ministers, complain of my exactions 
upon foreigners at New Orleans, T desiro they 
would look at the documents, and consider for a 
few moments the facts and figures sot forth in 
the returns and in this report. They will find 
that out of ten thousand four hundred and ninety 
families who have been fed from the fund, with 
the raising of which they find fault, less tlian 
one-tenth (one thousand and ten) are Americans; 
nine thousand four hundred and eighty are for- 
eigners. Of the thirty-two thousand souls, but 
three thousand are natives. Besides, the charity 
at the asylums and hospitals is distributed in about 
the same proportions as to foreign and native 
born ; so that of an expenditure of near eighty 
thousand dollars per month, to employ and feed 
the starving poor of New Orleans, seventy-two 
thousand goes to the foreigners, whose com- 
patriots loudly complain, and offensively thrust 
forward their neutrality, whenever they are 
called upon to aid their suffering countrymen. 

" I should need no extraordinary taxation to 
feed the poor of New Orleans, if the bellies of 
the foreigners were as active with the rebels, as 
are the heads of those who claim exemption, 
thus far, from this taxation, made and used for 
purposes above set forth, upon the ground of 
their neutrality ; among whom I fiud Rochereau 
& Co., the senior partner of which firm took an 
oath of allegiance to support the constitution of 
the Confederate States. 

'•T find also the house of Reichard & Co., the 
senior partner of which. General Reichard, is in 
the rebel army. I find the junior partner, Mr. 
Kruttschnidt, the brother-in-law of Benjamin, 
the rebel secretary of war, using all the funds in 
his hands to purchase arms, and collecting the 
securities of his correspondent before they are 
duo, to get funds to loan to the rebel authorities, 
and now acting Prussian consul here, doing 
quite as eff.'ctive service to the rebels as his 
partner in the field. I find Mme. Yogol, late 
partner in the same house of Reichard <fe Co., 
now absent, whose funds are managed by that 
house. I find M. Paesher & Co., bankers, whose 
clerks and employes formed a part of the French 
legion, organized to fight the United Slates, and 
•who contributed largely to arm and equip that 
corps. And a Mr. Lewis, whose antecedents I 
have not had time to investigate. 

"And those are fair specimens of the neutral- 
ity of the foreigners, for whom the government 
is called upon to interfere, to prevent their pay- 
ing anything toward the Relief Fund for thek 
starving countrymen. 



" If the representatives of the foreign govern- 
ments will feed their own starving people, over 
whom the only protection they extend, so far as 
I see, is to tax them all, poor and rich, a dollar 
and a half each for certificates of nationality, I 
will release the foreigners from all the exactions, 
fines, and imjjosts whatever." 

There is the whole case, written out, as all of 
General Butler's dispatches wore, late at night, 
after twelve or fifteen hours of intense exertion. 
After such a reaper there is scanty gleaning. 

Let me add, however, that among the docu- 
ments relating to the expedition may be found 
many little notes, written in an educated, femi- 
nine liand, conveying to General Butler the 
thanks of " Sister Emily," "Mother Alphonso," 
and other Catholic ladies, for the assistance 
afforded by him to the orphans, the widows, 
and the sick under their charge ; " whose 
prayers," they added, "wiU daily ascend to 
ITeaven in his behalf" During the latter half 
of his administration, the eliarities of New 
Orleans wore almost wholly sustained from the 
funds wrung from " neutral " foes by Order 
No. 55. The great Charity hospital received, 
as we have seen, five thousand a month. To 
the orphans of St. Elizabeth, when the public 
funds ran low, the general gave five hundred 
dollars of his own money, besides ordering 
rations from the public stores at his own charge, 
and causing the Confederate notes held by the 
asylum to be disposed of to the best advantage. 
A commission was appointed, after a time, to 
inquire into the condition and needs of all the 
asylums, hospital and charity schools in the city, 
and to report the amount of aid proper to be 
allowed to each. The report of the commission 
shows, that the rations granted them by General 
Butler were all that enabled them to continue 
their ministrations to the helpless and the igno- 
ranit, the widow, the orphan, and the sick. 

I may afford space for a letter addressed by 
the commanding general to the Superior of the 
Sisters of Charity, upon the occasion of the 
accidental injury of their edifice during the 
bombardment of Donaldsonville. It is not pre- 
cisely the kind of utterance which we should 
naturally expect from a "Beast." 

" Head-quarters, Department of the Gulf, 
" New Orleans, Seidember 2d, 1862. 

"Madame: — I had no information until the 
reception of your note, that so sad a result to 
the sisters of your command had happened from 
the bombardment of Donaldsonville. 

" I am very, very sorry that Rear- Admiral 
Farragut was unaware that he was injuring 
your establishment by his shells. Any injury 
must have been entirely accidental. The de- 
struction of that town became a necessity. The 
inhabitants harbored a gang of cowardly gueril- 
las, who committed every atrocity; amongst 
others, that of firing upon an unarmed boat 
crowded with women and children, going up the 
coast, returning to their homes, many of them 
having been at school at New Orleans. 

" It is impossible to allow such acts ; and I 
am only sorry that the righteous punishment 
meted out to them in this instance, as indeed in 
all others, fell quite as heavily upon the inno- 
cent and unoffending as upon the guilty. 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



85 



" No one can appreciate more fully than my- 
self the holy, self-sacrificing labors of the sisters 
of charity. To them our soldiers are daily in- 
debted for the kindest offices. Sisters of all 
mankind, they know no nation, no kindred, 
neither war nor peace. Their all-pervuding 
charity is like the boundless love of ' Him who 
died for all,' whose servants they are, and whose 
pure teachings their love illustrates. 

" I repeat the expression of ray grief, that 
any harm should have befallen your society of 
sisters ; and I cheerfully repair it, as far as I 
may, in the manner you suggest, by filling the 
order you have sent to the city for provisions 
and medicines. 

" Your sisters in the city will also further 
testify to you, that my officers and soldiers have 
never failed to do to them all in their power to 
aid them in their usefulness, and to lighten the 
burden of their labors. 

" With sentiments of the highest respect, 
believe me, your friend, 

"Benjamin F. Butleb. 

"Santa Maria Clara, 

" Superior and SUier of Charity.'''' 

The rehcf afibrded by Order No. 55, liberal as 
it was, did but alleviate the distresses of the 
poor. The whole land was stricken. The fre- 
quent marching of armed bodies swept the coun- 
try of the scanty produce of a soil deserted by 
the ablest of its proprietors. In the city, life 
was just endurable; beyond the Union lines, 
most of the people were hungry, half naked, 
and without medicine. 

" The condition of the people here," wrote 
General Buller to General Halleck, September 
1st, "is a very alarming one. They literally 
come down to starvation. Not only in the city, 
but in the country: planters who, in peaceful 
times, would have spent the summer at Sara- 
toga, are now on their plantations, essentially 
without food. Hundreds weekly, by stealth, 
are coming across the lake to the city, reporting 
starvation on the lake shore. I am distributing, 
in various ways, about fifty thousand dollars per 
month in food, and more is needed. This is to 
the whites. My commissary is issuing rations 
to the amount of nearly double the amount 
required by the troops. This is to the blacks. 

" They are now coming in by hundreds — say 
thousands — almost daily. Many of the planta- 
tions are deserted along the 'coast,' which, in 
this country's phrase, means the river, from the 
city to Natchez. Crops of sugar-cane are left 
standing, to waste, which would make millions 
of dollars worth of sugar." 

Such were some of the fruits of this most dis- 
astrous and most beneficent of all wars. Such 
were some of the difficulties with which the 
commander of the Department of the Gulf had 
to contend during the whole period of his admin- 
istration. Clothed with powers more than impe- 
rial, such were some of the uses to which those 
powers were devoted. 

The government sustained Order No. 55. In 
December, the money derived from it having 
been exhausted, the measure was repeated. 

"New Orleans, Decemher 9, 1862. 

" Under General Order No. 55, current series, 
from these head-quarters, an assessment was 



made upon certain parties who had aided the 
rebellion, ' to be appropriated to the relief of 
the starving poor of New Orleans.' " 

"The calls upon the fund raised under that 
order have been frequent and urgent, and it is 
now exhausted. 

" But the poor of this city have the same, or 
increased necessities for relief as then, and their 
calls must be heard; and it is both fit and 
proper that the parties responsible for the pres- 
ent state of affah-s should have the burden of 
their support. 

"Therefore, the parties named in Schedules 
A and B, of General Order No. 55, as hereunto 
annexed, are assessed in like sums, and for the 
same purpose, and will make payment to D. C. 
G. Field, financial clerk, at his office, at these 
head-quarters, on or before Monday, December 
15, 1862." 



CHAPTER XIY. 

THE WOMAN ORDER. 

It concerns the people of the United States to 
know that secession, regarded as a spiritual 
malady, is incurable. Every one knows this 
who, by serving on "the frontiers of the re- 
bellion," has been brought in contact with its 
leaders. General Rosecrans knows it. General 
Grant knows it. General Bumside knows it. 
General Butler knows it. True, a large number 
of Southern men who have been touched with 
the epidemic, have recovered or are recovering. 
But the hundred and fifty thousand men who 
own the slaves of the South, who own the best 
of the lands, who have always controlled its 
politics and swayed its drawing-rooms, in whom 
the disease is hereditary or original, whom it 
possesses and pervades, like the leprosy or the 
scrofula, or, rather, like the falseness of the 
Stuarts and the imbecility of the Bourbons — 
these men will remain, as long as they draw the 
breath of life, enemies of all the good meaning 
which is summed up in the words. United 
States. It is from studying the characters of 
these people that we moderns may learn why 
it was that the great Cromwell and his heroes 
called the adherents of the mean and cruel 
Stuarts by the name of " Malignants." They 
may be rendered innoxious by destroying their 
power, i. e., by abolishing slavery, which is their 
power ; but, as to converting them from the 
error of their minds, that is not possible. 

General Butler was aware of this from the 
beginning of the rebellion, and his experience in 
New Orleans was daily confirmation of his belief. 
Hence, his attitude toward the ruling class was 
warlike, and he strove in all ways to isolate that 
class, and bring the majority of the people to see 
who it was that had brought all this needless 
ruin upon their state ; and thus to array the 
majority against the few. Throwing the whole 
weight of his power against the oligarchy, he 
endeavored to save and conciliate the people, 
whom it was the secret design of the leaders to 
degrade and disfranchise. He was in New Or- 
leans as a general wielding the power of his 
government, and as a democrat representing its 
principles. 



86 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



The first month of his administration was sig- 
nalized by several warlike acts and utterances, 
aimed at the Spirit of Secession ; some of which 
excited a clamor throughout the whole secession 
world, on both continents, echoes of which are 
still occasionally heard. 

The following requires no explanation : 

" New Orleans, Mai/ 18, 1862. 

" It having come to the knowledge of the com- 
manding general that Friday next is proposed to 
be observed as a day of fasting and prayer, in 
obedience to some supposed proclamation of one 
Jefferson Davis, in the several churches of this 
city, ii is ordered that no such observance be 
had. 

" ' Churches and religious houses are to be 
kept open as in time of profound peace,' but no 
religious exercises are to be had upon the 
supposed authority above mentioned." 

This was General Order No. 27. The one 
next issued, the famous Order No. 28, which 
relates to the conduct of some of the women of 
New Orleans, can not bo dismissed quite so 
summarily. 

One might have expected to find among the 
women of the South many abolitionists of the 
most " radical" description. As upon the white 
race the blighting curse of slavery chiefly falls, 
so the women of tliat race suffer the conse- 
quences of the sj'stem wliich are tlie most de- 
grading and the most painful. It leads their 
husbands astray, debauches their brothers and 
their sons, enervates and coarsens their daughters. 
The wastefulness of the institution, its bungling 
stupidity, the heavy and needless burdens it 
imposes upon house-keepers, would come home, 
we should think, to the minds of all women not 
wholly incapable of reflection. I am aisle to 
stale, that here and there, in the South, even in 
the cotton states, there are ladies wiio feel all 
the enormity, and comprehend the immense 
stupidity of slavery. I have heard them avow 
their abhorrence of it. One in particular, I re- 
member, on the borders of Soutli Carolina itself, 
a mother, glancing covertly at her languid son, 
and saying in the low tone of despair: 

" You cannot tell me anything about slaverj^ 
We women know what it is, if the men do not." 

But it is the law of nature that the men and 
women of a community shall be morally equal. 
If all the women were made, by miracle, per- 
fectly good, and all the men perfectly bad, in one 
generation the moral equality would be restored, 
the men vastly improved, the women reduced to 
the average of human worth. Consequently, we 
find the women of the South as mucii corrupted 
by slavery as the men, and not less zealous than 
the men in this insolent attempt to rend tlieir 
country in pieces. In truth, they are more 
zealous, since women are naturally more vehe- 
ment and enthusiastic than men. The women 
of New Orleans, too, all had husband^, sons, 
brothers, lovers or friends, in the Confederate 
army. To blame the women of a community for 
adhering, with their whole souls, to a cause for 
which tlieir husbands, brothers, sous and lovers 
are fighting, would be to arraign the laws of 
nature. But then there is a choice of methods 
by which that adherence may bo manifested. 

"When General Butler was passing through 
Baltimore, on his way to New Orleans, ho ob- 



I served the mode in which the Union soldiers 
stationed there were accustomed to behave whea 
passing by ladies who wore the secession flag 
on their bosoms. The ladies, on approaching a 
soldier, would suddenly throw aside their cloaks 
or shawls to display the badge of treason. The 
soldier would retort by lilting the tail of his 
coat, to show the rebel flag doing duty, appar- 
ently, as a large patch on the seat of his trousers. 
The general noted the circumstance well. It 
occurred to him then, that, perhaps, a more 
decent way could be contrived to shame the 
heroines of secession out of tlieir silly tricks. 

The women of New Orleans by no means con- 
fined themselves to the display of minute rebel 
flags on their persons. They were insolently 
and vulgarly demonstrative. They would leave 
the sidewalk, on the approach of Union officers, 
and walk around them into the middle of the 
the street, with up-turned noses and insulting 
words. On passing privates, tliey would mako 
a great ostentation of drawing away their 
dresses, as if from the touch of pollution. Se- 
cession colors were conspicuously'' worn upon the 
bonnets. If a Union officer entered a street 
car, all the ladies in it would frequently leave 
the vehicle, with every expression of disgust; 
even in church the same spirit was exliibited — 
ladies leaving the pews entered b^' u Union 
officer. The female teachers of the public schools 
kept their pupils singing rebel songs, and ad- 
vised the girls to make manifest their contempt 
for the soldiers of the Union. Parties of ladies 
ujwn the balconies of houses, would turn their 
backs when soldiers were passing by; while one 
of them would run in to the piano, and thump 
out the Bonny Blue Flag, with the energy that 
lovely woman knows how to throw into a per- 
formance of that kind. One woman, a very fino 
lady, too, swept away her skirts, on one occasion, 
with so much violence, as to lose her balance, 
and she fell into the gutter. The two officers 
whose proximity had excited her ire, approached 
to offer their assistance. She spurned them from 
her, saying, that she would rather lie in the gutter 
than be helped out by Yankees. She aftervvard 
related the circumstance to a Union officer, and 
owned that she had in reality felt grateful to the 
officers for their politeness, and added that 
Order No. 28 served the women right. Th© 
climax of these absurdities was reached when a 
beast of a woman spat in the faces of two 
officers, who were walkmg peacefully along the 
street. 

It was this last event which determined 
General Butler to take public notice of the con- 
duct of the women. At first their exhibitions 
and afl'ectations of spleen merely amused the 
objects of thein ; who were accustomed to relate 
them to their comrades as the jokes of the day. 
And so far, no officers or soldiers had done or 
said anything in tlie way of retort. No man in 
New Orleans had been wronged, no woman had 
been treated witli disrespect by the soldiers of the 
United States. These things were done while 
General Butler was feeding the poor of the city 
by thousands ; while he was working night and 
day to start and restore the business of the city; 
while he was defending the people against tlie 
frauds of great capitalists ; while he was main- 
taining such order in New Orleans as it had 
never known before ; while he was maturing 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



87 



measures designed solely for the benefit of the 
city ; while he was testifying in every way, by 
•word and deed, his heartfelt desire to exert all 
the great powers intrusted to him for the good 
of New Orleans and Louisiana. 

It can not be denied that both officers and 
men became, at length, very sensitive to these 
annoyances. Complaints to the general were 
frequent. Colonels of regiments requested to be 
informed what orders they should give their men 
on the subject, and the younger staff officers often 
asked the general to save them from indignities 
which they could neither resent nor endure. 
Why, indeed, should ho permit his brave and vir- 
tuous New England soldiers to be insulted by 
these silly, vulgar creatures, spoiled by contact 
with slavery ? And how long could he trust the 
forbearance of the troops? Those questions he 
had already considered- but the extreme difficulty 
of acting in such an affair with dignity and effect, 
had given him pause. But when the report of 
the spitting was brought to him, he determined 
to put a stop to such outrages before they pro- 
voked retaliation. 

It has been said, that the false construction 
put upon General Order No. 28, by the enemies 
of the United States, was due to the carelessness 
with which it was composed. Mr. Seward, in 
his conversation on the subject with the English 
charge, " regretted that, in the haste of compo- 
sition, a pliraseology which could be mistaken or 
perverted had been used." Tlie secretary of 
state was never more mistaken. The order was 
penned with the utmost care and deliberation, 
and all its probable consequences discussed. The 
problem was, how to put an end to tlie insulting 
ijehavior of the women without being obliged to 
resort to arrests. So far. New Orleans had been 
kept down by the mere show and presence of 
force •, it was highly desirable, for reasons of hu- 
manity as well as policy, that this should con- 
tinue to be the case. If the order had said: Any 
woman who insults a Union soldier shall be ar- 
rested, committed to the calaboose and fined, — 
tliere would have been women who would have 
courted the distinction of arrest, to the great 
peril of the public tranquillity. If anything at all 
could have roused the populace to resist the 
troops, surely it would have been the arrest of a 
well-dressed woman, for so popular an act as in- 
sulting a soldier of the United States. 

It was with the intent to accomplish the object 
without disturbance, that General Butler worded 
the order as we find it. The order was framed 
upon the model of one which ho had read long 
ago in an ancient London chronicle. 

" Head-quaeters, Department of the Gulf, 
'•New Orleans, May 15, 1863. 
" General Order No. 28-: 

" As the officers and soldiers of the United 
States have been subject to repeated insults from 
the women (calhng themselves ladies) of New 
Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non- 
interference and courtesy on our part, it is or- 
dered that hereafter when any female shall, by 
word, gesture, or movement, insult or show con- 
tempt for any officer or soldier of the United 
States, she shall be regarded and held liable to 
be treated as a woman of the town plying her 
avocation. By command of 

Major-General Butler. 

" G-BO. C. Strong, A. A. (?., Chief of Stag:' 



That is, she shall be hold liable, according to the 
law of New Orleans, to be arrested, detained over 
night in the calaboose, brought before a magis- 
trate in the morning, and lined five dollars. 

When the order had been wi'itlen, and was 
about to be consigned to irrevocable print, a lead- 
ing member of tho staff (Major Strong) said to 
General Butler: 

" After all, general, is it not possible that some 
of the troops may misunderstand the order? It 
would be a great scandal if only one man should 
act upon it in the wrong way." 

" Let us, then," replied the general, " have one 
case of aggression on our side. I shall know how 
to deal with that case, so that it will never be 
repeated. So far, all the aggression has been 
against us. Here we are, conquerors in a con- 
quered city; we have respected every right, tried 
every means of conciliation, complied with every 
reasonable desire ; and yet we can not walk the 
streets without being outraged and spit upon by 
green girls. I do not fear the troops ; but if ag' 
gression must be, let it not be all against us.^^ 

General Butler was, of course, perfectly aware, 
as we are, that if he had expressly commanded 
his troops to outrage and ravish every woman 
who insulted thera, those men of New England 
and the West would not have thought of obeying 
him. If one miscreant among them had at- 
tempted it, tho public opinion of his regiment 
would have crushed him. Every one who knows 
the men of that army feels how impossible it was 
that any of them should practically misinterpret 
an order of which the proper and innocent 
meaning was so palpable. 

The order was published. Its success was im- 
mediate and perfect. Not that tho women did 
not still continue, with the ingeniaity of tho sex, 
to manifest their repugnance to the troops. They 
did so. The piano still greeted the passing offi- 
cer with rebel airs. The fair countenances of 
the ladies were still averted, and their skirts 
gently held aside. Still the balconies presented 
a view of the " back hair " of beauty. If the 
dear creatures did not leave tho car when an offi- 
cer entered it, they stirred not to give him room 
to sit down, and would not see his polite offer to 
hand their ticket to the driver. (No conductors 
in the street cars of New Orleans.) It was a 
fashion to affect sickness at the stomach on such 
occasions ; which led the Deltoi to remark, that 
ladies should remember that but for the presence 
of the Union forces some of the squeamish stom- 
achs would have nothing in them. But the out- 
rageous demonstrations ceased. No more insult- 
ing words were uttered ; and all the affectations 
of disgust were such as could be easily and 
properly borne by officers and men. Gradually 
even these were discontinued. 

I need not add, that in no instance was the or- 
der misunderstood on the part of the troops. No 
man in the whole world misunderstood it who 
was not glad of any pretext for revihng the sa- 
cred cause for which the United States has been 
called to contend. So far from causing the 
women of New Orleans to be wronged or mo- 
lested, it was that which saved them from the 
only danger of molestation to which they were 
exposed. It threw around them the protection 
of law, not tore it away ; and such was the com- 
pleteness of its success, that not one arrest under 
Order No. 28 has ever been made. 



88 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



General Butler vras not lonf,' in discovering 
that the order was to bo made the occasion of a 
prodigious hue and cry against his administra- 
tion. The puppet mayor of Now Orleans was 
the first to lift his little voice against it; which 
led to important consequences. 

It had already become apparent to the gen- 
eral and to the officers aiding him, that two 
powers so hostile as the cily government of New 
Orleans and tlie commander of the Department 
of the Gulf could not co-operate — could not 
long exist together. The mayor and common 
council had violated their compact with the 
general in every particular. They had agreed 
to clean the streets, and had not done it. They 
had engatced to enroll two hundred and fifty of 
the property -holders of tlie town to assist in 
keeping the peace, that General Butler might 
safely withdraw his troops. The two hundred 
and fifty proved to be men of the "Thug" spe- 
cies — the hangers-on of the City Hall. The 
European Brigade was to be retained in service ; 
the mayor disbanded it. Provisions had been 
sent out of the starring city to the hungry camp 
of General Lovell. Confederate notes, which 
had fallen to thirty cents, were redeemed by 
the city government at par, thus taxing the city 
one hundred cents to give tliirty to the favorites 
of the mayor and council ; for the redemption 
was not public and universal, but special and 
private. The tone and style of the city govern- 
ment, too, were a perpetual reiteration of the 
assertion, so dear to the deluded people of the 
city, that New Orleans had not been conquered 
— only overcome by "brute force." Nothing 
but the general's extreme desire to give the 
arrangement of May 4th so fair a trial that the 
whole world would hold him guiltless in dissolv- 
ing it, prevented his seizing upon the govern- 
ment of the city on the ninth of May. 

On the day on which the order appeared in 
the newspapers, the mayor sent to General But- 
ler the following letter, which was written for 
him by his secretary, Mr. Duncan, formerly of 
the Delia : 

" State of LouistAXA, 

"Mayoralty of New Orleans, 

•'Jfinj IG, 1862. 

"Major-Gencral Ren.tamin F. Butlbr, Commamling 
United States Forces: 

" Sir: — Your General Order, No. 28, of date 
15th inst., which reads as follows, is of a char- 
acter so extraordinary and astonishing that I 
can not, holding the office of chief magistrate of 
the city, chargeable with its peace and dignity, 
suffer it to be promulgated in our presence 
without protesting a^^ainst the tlireat it contains, 
which has already aroused the passions of our 
people, and must exasperate them to a degree 
beyond control. Your officers and soldiers are 
permitted, by tlie terms of this order, to place 
any construction they may please upon tlio con- 
duct of our wives and daughters, and, upon 
such construction, to offer them atrocious insults. 
The peace of the city and tlie safety of your offi- 
cers and soldiers from harm and insult have, 1 
affirm, been successfully secured to an extent 
enabling them to move through our streets 
almost uimoticed, according to the understand- 
ing and agreement entered into between your- 
self and the city authorities. I did not, how- 
ever, anticipate a war upon women and children, 



who, so far as I am aware, have only manifested 
their displeasure at the occupation of tlieir city 
by those whom they believe to be tlieir enemies, 
and I will never undertake to bo responsible for 
the peace of New Orleans while such an edict, 
which infuriates our citizens, remains in force. 
To give a license to the officers and soldiers of 
your command to commit outrages, such as are 
indicated in your order, upon defenseless women 
is, in my judgment, a reproach to the civilization, 
not to say to the Cliristianity, of the age, in 
whose name I make this protest. I am, sir, 
your obedient servant, 

" John T. Monroe, Mayor" 

To this General Butler replied with prompt- 
ness and brevity, and sent his reply by the 
hands of the provost-ruarshal : 

" HEAD-Qlf ARTEUS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULP, 

"New Orleans, Jlinj 16, 1SG2. 
" John T. Monroe, late mayor of the city of 
New Orleans, is relieved from all responsibihty 
for the peace of the city, and is suspended from 
the exercise of any official functions, and com- 
mitted to Fort Jackson until fartlier orders. 

B. F. Butler, Major- General Oovimanding. 

The mayor, however, was indulged with an 
interview with the commanding general. He 
remonstrated against the order for his imprison- 
ment. The general told him, in reply, that if 
he could no longer control the " aroused pas- 
sions of the people of New Orleans," it was 
highly necessary that he should not only be 
relieved from any further responsiljility for the 
tranquillity of the city, but be sent himself to a 
place of safety ; which Fort Jackson was. The 
letter, added the general, was an insult which 
no officer, representing the majesty of the United 
States in a captured city, ought to submit to. 
The mayor, whose courage always oozed away 
in the presence of General Butler, declared that 
he had had no intention to insult the general; 
he had only intended to vindicate the honor of 
the virtuous ladies of New Orleans. 

" No vindication is necessary," said General 
Butler, " because the order does not contemplate 
or allude to virtuous women." None such, he 
believed, could have meant to insult his officers 
or men by word, look, or gesture, and the order 
was aimed only at those who had. 

Finding the mayor pliant and reasonable, as 
he always was in the absence of his supporters, 
General Butler expounded the order to him at 
great length, and with perfect courtesy. The 
mayor then declared that he was perfectly saiis- 
fied, and asked to be allowed to withdraw his 
offensive letter. General Butler, knowing well 
the necessity, in all dealings with puppets, of 
having something to show in writing, wrote the 
following words at the end of the mayor's letter: 

" Gexkral Bdti.er : — This communication 
having been sent under a mistake of fact, and 
being improper in language, I desire to apologia 
for the same, and to withdraw it." 

This the mayor signed, and the general re- 
lieved him from arrest. The mayor then depart- 
ed, and the general hoped he had done with 
Order No. 28. 



THE WOMAN OEDER. 



89 



It was very far, however, from the intention 
of the gentlemen wlio had the mayor of New 
Orleans in charge, to forego their opportunity of 
firing the southern heart. In the evening of the 
same 16th of May, General Butler received the 
following note : 

" Mayoralty op Nkw Orleans, 
"City Hall, May 16, l!i62. 

" Major-General Butler : 

" Sir : — Having misunderstood you yesterday 
in relation to your General Order No. 28, I wish 
to withdraw the indorsement I made on the let- 
ter addressed to you yesterday. Please deliver 
the letter to my secretary, Mr. Duncan, who will 
hand you this note. Your obedient servant, 
"John T. Monroe." 

General Butler immediately replied in the fol- 
lowing terms : 

" Head-quarters, Department of tub Gulf, 
"New Orleans, May 16, 1862. 

"Sir: — There can be, there has been, no 
room for the misunderstanding of General Order 
No. 28. 

" No lady will take any notice of a strange 
gentleman, and a fortiori of a stranger, in such 
form as to attract attention. Common women do. 

" Therefore, whatever woman, lady or mistress, 
gentle or simple, who, by gesture, look or word, 
insults, shows contempt lor, thus attracting to 
herself the notice of my officers or soldiers, will 
be deemed to act as becomes her vocation of com- 
mon woman, and will be liable to be treated ac- 
cordingly. Tliis was most fully explained to you 
at my office. 

" I shall not, as I have not, abated a single 
word of that order ; it was well considered. If 
obeyed, it will protect the true and modest wo- 
man from all possible insult. The others will 
take care of themselves. 

" You can publish your letter, if you publish 
this note, and your apology. 

" Respectfully, Benjamin P. Butler, 

" Major- Genural Commanding. 
"John T. Monroe, Mayor of New Orleans.''' 

To this the mayor replied by sending to the 
general a copy of his first letter. General Butler 
summoned him again to head-quarters ; he came 
accompanied by his secretary, Duncan. In the 
presence of the general his courage failed him 
again, and he declared that he did not wish to 
send the offensive letter if he could publish what 
the general had said to him yesterday, that Order 
No. 28 did not refer to all the ladies of New Or- 
leans. With even an excess of patience, the gen- 
eral replied, that to prevent all possiblity of mis- 
' understanding he would put in writing at the 
bottom of a copy of the order a statement in ac- 
cordance with the mayor's desires, which he would 
be at liberty to publish. So he wrote : 

" You may say that this order refers to those 
women who have shown contempt for, and in- 
sulted my soldiers, by words, gestures, and move- 
ments, in their presence. B. F. Butler." 

Duncan asked the insertion of the word " only" 
after "women.'' The general assented to this 
also ; when the mayor and his secretary retired, 
taking the documents with them. Again Gen- 
eral Butler indulged in the hope that the afiair 
was satisfactorily adjusted. 



Far from it. The next morning, which was 
Sunday, the mayor and a largo party of his friends 
presented themselves at the private parlor of the 
general. The mayor said that he had come for 
the purpose of witlidrawing his apology. General 
Butler replied that Sunday was not a business 
day with him, but if the Mayor desired to with- 
draw his apology, and would place himself, on 
Monday morning, in the chair in which he had 
sat when he had signed it, ho should have a full 
opportunity to do so. The general added, that 
he would be glad to see him the next morning, 
and as many friends as he chose to bring with 
him. 

Meanwhile, information had been brought to 
head-quarters of a conspiracy among the paroled 
rebel prisoners in New Orleans, to procure arms 
and force their way beyond the Union lines and 
join General Loveli. Six of them had been ar- 
rested. The conspirators, it appeared, had called 
themselves the Monroe Guard, after the mayor, 
from whom they expected substantial aid — had 
probably received substantial aid already. The 
general was resolved to make short work with the 
mayor at their next interview. 

On Monday morning the mayor presented him- 
self at head-quarters, accompanied by his chief of 
pohce, a lieutenant of pohce, his private secretary, 
one of the city judges, and several others of his 
special backers ; seven or eight persons in alL 
General Butler did not wait lor the attack of this 
imposing force, but opened upon them as soon as 
they were in position. He made a clear and for- 
cible statement of the many v.'ays in which the 
city government had failed to observe the com- 
pact of May 4th. He told them that while he 
had been employing all the resources of his mind 
and of his position to keep the poor of the city 
from starving, the whole power and means of the 
city authorities had been expended in supporting 
the Confederate cause — by sending provisions to 
Lo veil's camp, by contributing money for the 
maintenance of Confederate agents in the city, 
and by placing every obstacle in the way of the 
purification of the streets. He announced the 
discovery of the conspiracy among the paroled 
prisoners, the sentence of six of them to death ; 
and discoursed upon the significance of tlie nam- 
ing the corps after the mayor. All this conflict 
of authority and moral influence must cease, and 
cease at once. He had resolved to have no more 
of " this weathercock business." 

After a long interview, he brought the matter 
to a very simple and direct issue. He saw before 
him the men who had inspired and upheld the 
mayor in his unnatural and unwilling contumacy. 
To each of them he addressed a question, the an- 
swer to which would lix his political position and 
indicate his luture course: 

'' Judge Kennedy, do you sanction the maj'or's 
letter in its substance and eflect ?" 

Answer : " I sustain no insulting expression 
in this letter. The construction which the letter 
puts upon the order is the construction put upon 
it in this city generally. If I had been in the 
mayor's place, 1 should have claimed a modifica- 
tion, or an announcement of its intended con- 
struction." 

General Butler ; " Do you not believe the letter 
insulting? Do you aid and abet the mayor? 
Do you sustain the mayor iu reiterating the 
letter ?" 



90 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



Keunedy : '' I can not answer. I will answer 
neither yes nor no, for the siinple reason that it 
will not cover the position T take. I would not 
in any commuuicatiou with General Butler, use 
insuUin}^ language myself." 

The question was then proposed to the other 
gentlemen in turn. 

Chief of Police ; " I do sustain the mayor." 

Lieutenant of Police : "I have not given the 
letter a thouglit. I have n'jver read the letter 
before." 

Mr. Harris : The same answer. 

M. Wliann : " I do not sustain or repudiate the 
letter, as I liuow nothing about it. 

Mr. Peltigrew : " I sustain the mayor." 

Mr. Duncan confessed to having "assisted in 
the composition of the letter." 

General Butler then ordered the committal to 
Fort Jackson of the late mayor, the chief of police. 
Judge Keunedy and Mr. Duncan. The others 
were dismissed. The mayor, finally wished to 
know if his apology would be considered with- 
drawn. General Butler assured him tliat when 
tlie letter and the apology were publislied, the 
withdrawal of the apology should be distinctly 
stated. 

The mayor was afterward removed to Fort 
Pickens. The ofl'er was always open to him to 
take the oath and return home. Some of his 
friends, it is said, prevailed upon him, at length, 
to return lionie upon that hard condition; and 
General Butler consenting, his wife went to Fort 
Pickens alter him. The officer who accompanied 
her chanced to hand the mayor a newspaper 
which contained a positive announcement that 
France had recognized the Confederacy. The 
wortliy mayor instantly changed his mind, refused 
to take llio oath, and permitted a faithful spouse 
to depart without liim. 

Tlie mayor being deposed, the executive part 
of the city government was at once suspended, 
and the business of governing New Orleans 
devolved upon the military commandant, Gen- 
oral G. F. Shopley, of Maine. The woman 
order, however, merely hastened an event which 
the expiration of ilie mayor's term of office 
would have effected in a few days; for General 
Butler luid already determined that no man 
should again be elected to office in New Orltans 
who had not taken the oath of allegiance to his 
country's government. 

General Shepley proceeded with vigor to 
organize tlie government. Colonel French ad- 
vertised for five hundred policemen. Judicious 
appointments wore made in every department, 
and the municipal revolution was accomplished 
without disturbance. Among General 'Sliepley's 
first orders wo notice the following: 

"general orders. 

"Office Military CIdmmandant of New Orleans, 
"CiTV Hall, May 2S, IbG'i. 

" Hereafter in the churches in the city of 
Now Orleans, prayers will not bo offered up for 
the destruction of the Union or constitution of 
the United States, for the success of rebel armies, 
for the Confederate States, so called, or any offi- 
cers of the same, civil or military, in their official 
capacity. 

"Wliilo protection will be afforded to all 
churches, religious houses, and establishments, 
and religious ' services are to be held as in times 



of profound peace,' this protection will not be 
allowed to bo perverted to tlie ujjholding of trea- 
son or advocacy of it in any form. 

" "Where thus perverted, it will be withdrawn. 
"G. F. SiiEPLEY, MUilary Commandant" 

This order was complied with only in the let- 
tor. Thenceforward, on reaching that part of the 
service where prayers were accu-stomed to be 
offered for Jefferson Davis, the minister would 
say: "Let us now spend a few moments in 
silent prayer." 

After suppressing the city government, it 
seemed to General Butler unjust and unwise to 
permit tliat potent instigator and director of trea- 
son, Mr. Pierre Soule. to remain in the city. It 
was he who had assisted in the composition of 
the mayor's insolent letter to Captain Farragut. 
It was he who had countenanced, perhaps 
caused, the burning of the cotton. It was he 
who was the moral support of the contumacy 
of secession in New Orleans. Upon him seces- 
sion chiefly relied to give it voice and effect. 
General Butler was clearly of opinion that to 
render Now Orleans a dead thing to secession, it 
was indispensable to send away a man so pow- 
erful to nourish hostility to the Union. Captain 
Conant accomplished the arrest with bis usual 
tact, and Mr. Soule, after ample time to arrange 
his private business, was consigned to Fort 
Warren, in Boston harbor. General Butler, 
some time afterward, requested the government 
to release the prisoner on his parole not to return 
to New Orleans, nor commit or advise any act 
hostile to the United States, which was done. 

Few men have had a more varied career than 
Pierre Soule. A native of France — a Paris 
lawyer — a Paris journalist — a fugitive to the 
West Indies — an emigrant. to New Orleans — a 
lawj'er there of brilliant position — a senator of 
tlie United States — a minister to Madrid, where 
he wounded the French embassador in a duel — 
a member of the Ostend Cuba-coveting confer- 
ence — a lawyer again in New Orleans — a Union- 
ist — a rebel — a prisoner of state. 

Before taking leave of the woman order and 
its consequences, it is proper to notice the use 
made of it by the enemies of the United States. 
Tlie screech wliieh arose from all parts of Secea- 
sia furnishes another proof that this rebellion, 
which was begun in falsehood, has been sus- 
tained by falsehood alone. I will give here one 
or two of the rebel coinmcnts. 

The following "appeal" appeared in most of 
the southern papers : 

" An Appeal to eveiIt Southern Soldier. 
— Wo turn to you in mute agony I Behold our 
wrongs! Fathers! husbands! brothers! sons! 
we know these bitter, burning wrongs will be 
fully avenged — never did southern women ap- 
peal in vain for protection from insult! But, 
for tho sake of your sistei's throughout the south, 
with tears wo implore you not to surrender 
your cities, 'in consideration of the defenseless 
women and children!' Do not leave your 
women to the mercy of this merciless foe 1 
Would it not have been better for New Orleans 
to have been laid in ruins, and wc buried up 
beneath tho mass, than that we should bo sub- 
jected to these untold sufferings? Is life so 
precious a boon that, for tho preservation of it, 



THE WOMAN ORDER. 



91 



no sacrifice is too great ? Ah, no 1 ah, no ! 
llather let us die with you, oh, our fathers I 
llalher, like Virginius, plunge your own swords 
into our breasts, saying, ' This is all we can 
give our daughters.' 

" The Daughters op New Orleans. 

" New Okleans, May 24, 1S02." 

A fair and indignant Georgian wrote to one 
of the newspapers of Savannah : 

" Editor of the Republican : — Seeing your spir- 
ited notice in this morning's paper, of the offer 
of a noble Mississippian to give a reward of 
$10,000 for the infamous Butler's head, can you 
not suggest, through your valuable journal, the 
propriety of every woman in our Confederacy 
contributing her mite to triple the sum, for a 
consummation dear to the insulted honor of our 
countrywomen, one and all ? 

" Eespectfully, A Savannah "Woman. 

" Savannau, Ju7ie 10, 1862." 

It pleased the English friends of the Confed- 
eracy, to place upon Order No. 28, the same 
preposterous construction. For them, however, 
there was this excuse: they had read " Napier's 
History of the Peninsular War." They know 
how savages in red coats had been wont to con- 
duct themselves in captured cities, and naturallj^ 
concluded tliat patriots in blue would follow 
their example. 13ut it is difficult to believe in 
the sincerity of noble lords and members of the 
house of commons, when they adopted and 
echoed back the rebel screech. "We hesitate to 
think that men intrusted with the government 
of a great country can be so easily taken in. 

Punch, too, whose laugh was always humane 
and just, till the slaveholders of the southern 
states rose in arms against all that Englishmen 
used to hold dear, had his httle song on the 
subject: 

" Ilaynau's lash tore woman's back. 

When she riz his dander. 
Butler, by his edict blaclc, 

Stuin|)s that fumed commander. 
Wreaking npun maid and dame 

Savagely subtler: 
None but Nena Saliib name 
Along with General Butler. 

Yankee doodle, doodle doo, 

Yankee doodle dandy ; 
Bntler is a rare Yahoo, 
As brave as Sepoy Pandy." 

General Butler could not have been quite in- 
different to vituperation like this — no man could 
have been. He took no public notice of it at 
the time, having more important affairs upon 
his hands ; but among his private letters, there 
is one which briefly vindicates the order. 

"I am as jealous," he wrote, "of the good 
opinion of my friends as I am careless of the 
slanders of my enemies, and your kind expres- 
sions with regard to Order 28 lead me to say a 
word to you on the subject. 

" That it could ever have been so miscon- 
ceived as it has been by some portions of the 
northern press, is wonderful, and would lead me 
to exclaim, with the Jew, ' I Father Abraham, 
what these Christians are, whose own hard deal- 
ings teach them to suspect the thoughts of 
others 1" 

""What was the state of things to which the 
woman order apphed ? 



" "We were two tliousand five hundred men, 
in a city seven miles long by two to four wide, 
of a hundred and fifty thousand iuhabitaut.s, all 
hostile, bitter, defiant, explosive ; standing liter- 
ally on a magazine, a spark only needed for de- 
struction. Tlie devil had entered the hearts of 
the women of this town (you know seven of them 
chose Mary Magdalene tor a residence) to stir up 
strife in every way possible. Every opprobious 
epithet, every insulting gesture, was made by 
these be-jeweled, crinolined and laced creatures, 
calling themselves ladies, toward my soldiers 
and officers, from the windows of houses and in 
the streets. How long do jou suppose our flesh 
and blood could have stood tliis without retort? 
That would have led to disturbancis and riot, 
troru which we must have cleared the streets 
with artillery — and then a howl that we had mur- 
dered these fine women. I had arrested the 
men who had hurrahed for Beauregard. Could 
I arrest the women ? No. "What was to be 
done ? No order could be made save one which 
would execute itself With anxious care, I 
thought I had hit upon this : " "Women who 
insult my soldiers are to be regarded and treated 
as common women, plying their vocation.' 

"Pray, how do you treat a common woman 
plying her vocation' in the streets ? You pass 
her by unheeded. She cannot insult you. As 
a gentleman, you can and wiU take no notice of 
her. If she speaks, her words are not oppro- 
brious. It is only when she becomes a continuous 
and positive nuisance, that you call a watchman 
and give her in charge to him. 

" But some of the northern editors seem to 
think that whenever one meets such a woman, 
we must stop her, talk with her, insult her, hold 
dalliance with her, and so from their own con- 
duct they construed my order. 

" The editor of the Boston Courier may so 
deal with common women, and out of the abun- 
dance of his heart his mouih may speak. But 
so do not I. 

" "Why, these she-adders of New Orleans 
themselves were at once tamed into propriety of 
conduct by the order, and from that day no 
woman has either insulted or annoj^ed any hve 
soldier or officer, and of a certainty no soldier 
has insulted any woman. 

" "When I passed through Baltimore on the 
23d of February last, members of my staff were 
insulted by the gestures of the ladies (?) there. 
Not so in New Orleans. * * * 

" I can only say that I would issue the order 
again under like circumstances." 

Among the women of New Orleans there were 
some who knew how to maintain, and even 
assert, their fidelity to the Confederate cause, 
without forgetting the courtesy due to officers 
of the United States, who were simply doing 
their duty. To such General Butler and his 
staff were as complaisant as their duty permitted. 
The case of Mrs. Sloeomb and her daughter Mrs. 
Urquhart, may be cited in iUustratton. These 
ladies applied for a pass to enable them to go 
to their country house, but stated with courteous 
frankness, that they could not take the oath of 
allegiance to the United States. At the be- 
ginning of the war, they said, they had desired 
the preservation of the Union : but now all their 
male friends and connections were in the Con- 
federate army; one of them had lost a son, the 



92 



EXECUTION OF MUMFORD. 



other a brother, in the service ; and they were 
noAV unalterably devoted to the cause, which 
they deemed just, noble and holy. General 
Butler said to them, that ho would make an 
exception to his rule and grant them the pass, 
if they would give up their sjjacious town house 
for the use ol' the United States during their 
absence, as he required such a house for his 
head- quarters. Mrs. Slocomb hesitated. "With 
tears in her eyes, she said that her house was 
endeared to her by a thousand tender associa- 
tions, and was now dearer to her than ever. 
She did not see how she could give it up. 

The general said, that he "experienced pe- 
culiar pleasure in meeting ladies who, while 
they were enemies to his country, were yet so 
frank, so truthful and devoted, and remarked 
that if New Orleans had been defended by an 
army of such women as Mrs. Urquhart, he be- 
lieved the Union army would have had con- 
siderable trouble in capturing the oily. In 
regard to their house he assured them that, 
although he had tlie power to take it, yet with- 
out their permission it should not be occupied, 
nor a brick of it be molested, unless indeed, the 
city was ravaged by yellow fever, in which case 
ho might be obliged to take every house suitable 
for hospital purposes ; and he added, if I can 
find any other reason for making you an excep- 
tion to my rule prohibiting passes to any who 
refuse to take the oath, I will do it." 

Happily, he found such a reason. A day or 
two after he wrote to the ladies : " I have the 
pleasure to inform you, that my necessities, 
which caused the request for permission to use 
your house during your absence this summer, 
have been relieved. I have taken the house of 
General Twiggs, late of the United States Army, 
for quarters. Inclined never on slight causes to 
use the power intrusted to me to grieve even 
sentiments only entitled to respect from the 
courage and ladylike propriety of manner in 
which they were avowed ; it is gratifying to be 
enabled to yield to the appeal you made for 
favor and protection by the United States. Yours 
shall be the soliuiry exception to the general 
rule adopted, that they who ask protection must 
take ,upon themselves corresponding obligations 
or do an equal favor to the government. I have 
an aged mother at home, who, like you, might 
request the inviolability of hearthstone and roof 
tree from the presence of a stranger. For her 
sake you shall have the pass you ask, which is 
sent herewith. As I did myself the honor to 
say personally, you may leave the city with no 
fear that your house will be interfered with by 
any exercise of military right ; but will be safe 
under the laws of the United States. Trusting 
that the inexorable logic of events will convict 
you of wrong toward your country, when all else 
has failed, 1 remain," etc. 

Mrs. Slocomb acknowledged the favor : " Per- 
mit me to return my sincere thanks for the 
special permit to leave, which you have so kindly 
granted to myself and family, as also for the 
protection promised to my property. Knowing 
that we have no claim for any exception in our 
favor, this generous act caUs loudly upon our 
grateful hearts, and hereafter while praying 
earnestly lor the cause we love so much, we 
shall never forget the liberality with which our 
request has been granted by one whose power 



here reminds us painfully that our enemies are 
more magnanimous than our citizeus are brave." 
Another instance. Mrs. Beauregard, the wife 
of the Confederate general, and her mother, were 
residing in the mansion of Slidell, the rebel 
emissary to France, who had lent it to them 
during his absence. This house being seques- 
tered. Lieutenant Kinsman went to take posses- 
sion, not knowing by whom it was occupied. 
Those distinguished and amiable ladies received 
the officer with dignity and politeness. He 
reported the fact of their occupation of the house 
to the commanding general, who immediately 
ordered that they should be allowed to reside in 
it undisturbed. There they remained, honored 
equally by the Union ofificers and by the people 
of the city. 



CHAPTER XV. 

EXECUTION OF MUMFORD. 

The crime for which Mumford suffered death 
has been already related. If in the act of tearing 
down the flag of his country, he had fallen dead 
upon the roof of the Mint, from the fire of the 
howitzers in the main-top of the Pensacola, no 
one could have charged 'aught against those who 
had the honor of that flag in charge. His offense 
was two-fold : he insulted the flag of his country, 
and endangered the lives of innocent fellow-citi- 
zens by drawing the tire of the fleet. His life 
was justly forfeited to the United States and to 
New Orleans. His life, moreover, was not a val- 
uable one ; he was one of those who live by prey- 
ing upon society, not by serving it. He was a 
professional gambler. Rather a fine looking man, 
tall, black-bearded; age, forty-two. 

After the occupation of the city by the troops, 
he still a2)peared in the streets, bold, reckless and 
defiant, one of the heroes of the populace. He 
was seen even in front of the St. Charles hotel, 
relating his exploit to a circle of admirers, boast- 
ing of it, daring the Union authorities to molest 
him. He did this once too often. He was ar- 
rested and tried by a military commission, who 
condemned him to death, and General Butler ap- 
proved the sentence, and ordered its execution. 

During his trial and after his condemnation, he 
showed neither fear nor contrition; evidently ex- 
pected a commutation of his sentence, not behev- 
ing that General Butler would dare execute it 
His friends, the Thugs and gamblers of the city, 
openly defied the general; resolved, in council 
assembled, not to petition for his pardon ; bound 
themselves to assassinate General Butler if Mum- 
ford were hanged. These things were duly re- 
ported to the general by his detective police, and 
were a common topic of conversation in the city. 
It was the almost universal belief that the con- 
demned man would be brought to the gallowa 
and there reprieved — according to the cruel, 
blank-cartridge mode of weak governments. 

While the friends of Mumford were thus build- 
ing up a wall between him and the chance ol 
pardon, the case was further complicated by the 
arrc«D and condemnation of the six paroled pris- 
oners, part of the Monroe Guard, who had con- 
spired to break away to the rebel camp. Their 
sentence also, the general approved. 



EXECUTION OF MUMFORD. 



93 



Here were seven men under sentence of death 
at the same time — seven human hves hanging 
upon the word of one man. General Butler is 
not a person of the philanthropical or humanita- 
rian cast of character; which is compatible with 
strange hardness of heart toward individuals. 
Nor is he unaware of tlie frightful cruelty to so- 
ciety of pardoning men justly condemned. He is 
abundantly capable of preferring the good of the 
many to the convenience of one, and turning a 
deaf ear to the entreaties of a criminal, when, on 
the other hand, stands a wronged community ask- 
ing protection, or an outraged country demanding 
justice upon its mortal foes. The fluid that 
courses his veins is blood, not milk and water. 
Nevertheless, he has'the feelings that belong to a 
human being, and these seven forfeited lives hung 
heavy upon his heart. 

In the case of Mumford he had no misgivings. 
He was able to endure the harrowing spectacle 
of the man's wife and three children falling upon 
their knees before him, begging the life of husband 
and father, and yet keep firmly to a just resolve. 
He was able to resist the tears and entreaties of 
his own tender-hearted wife, whose judgment he 
respected, to whose judgment he often deferred. 
Far more easily was he able to defy and scorn the 
threatenings of an impious clan of gamblers and 
ruffians. Mumford must die. That was the de- 
hberate and changeless fiat of his best judgment. 

Nor was he easily induced to alter his deter- 
mination with regard to the six paroled prisoners. 
The events of the war had constantly deepened 
in his mind a sense of the general cruelty of par- 
dons. He could not but think that the Union 
armies would not have lost a hundred thousand 
men by desertion, if, from the beginning, the just 
penalty of death had been inexorably inflicted ; 
DO, nor one thousand ; perhaps not one hundred. 
He had imbibed a horror of all those loose, ir- 
resolute, chicken-hearted modes of proceeding, 
which have cost the country such incalculable 
suffering and blood. It is instinctive in such a 
man to know that, in this world, the kindest, as 
well as the wisest of all things, is the rigid ob- 
servance of just law, the exact and prompt inflic- 
tion of just penalty. So, between his sense of 
what was due to those six men, and his anxious 
consideration of extenuating circumstances, he 
lived many distracted days and nights. He could 
neither eat nor sleep. 

The pressure upon him was intense, as it al- 
ways is upon men whose word can save lives. 
Every body pleaded for them. His own officers 
besieged his ears for pardon. The officers of the 
condemned besought it. Union men of the city im- 
plored it. And at night, when the world was 
shut out, there was still a voice to repeat the 
auguments of the day. The six prisoners were 
poor, simple, ignorant souls. One of them had 
said, when arraigned before the commission, that 
he did not understand anything about this pa- 
roling. 

"Paroling," said he, "is for officers and gentle- 
men : we are not gentlemen." 

It is probable that this remark saved the lives 
of them ah, for it suggested the line of argument 
and the kind of consideration which, probably, 
had most to do with changing the general's re- 
solve. " "We are not gentlemen," — an admission 
which no northern prisoner would be likely to 
make. At the south those words really have a 



meaning ; the poor people there fed a difference 
of rank between themselves and the lords of the 
plantation, and recognize a lower grade of per- 
sonal obligation. A gentlemen must keep his 
word ; we poor people may get away if we can. 

The earnest petition of those staunch Unionists 
Mr. J. A. Rosier and Mr. T. J. Durant had great 
weight with the general also. 

" These men," wrote they, " are justly liable to 
the condign punishment which the military law 
metes out to so grave and heinous an offense. 
But a powerful government never diminishes its 
strength by acts of clemency and mercy. No 
doubt, General, these men were partly driven by 
want, partly deluded, and have long been so; 
superior minds have heretofore given them false 
impressions, and they have been acting under 
such views as have at last brought them to the 
threshold of the grave. Unknown to us, even 
from report, prior to their trial and condemnation, 
we see in them only men and brethren who have 
err^d and are in danger. General, the event has 
just shown that these men are unable to resist 
the force of the government, or elude its vigilance 
and the fidelity of its officers. They are subdued 
and powerless. Their case excites our commiser- 
ation, and that of hundreds of others. We ask you 
to have mercy upon them." 

To this letter, which was received the day 
before the one named for the execution, General 
Butler replied : 

" Of the justice which calls for the death of 
these men I can have no doubt. The mercy it 
would be to others, in like cases tempted to 
offend, to have the terrible example of the pun- 
ishment to which these misguided men are sen- 
tenced, is the only matter left for discussion. 

" Upon this question you who have suffered 
for the Union, who have stood by it in evil and 
in good report — you who have lived and are 
hereafter to live in this city as your home, when 
all are gathered again under the flag which has 
been so foully outraged, and to whose wrongs 
these men's lives are forfeit — you who, I have 
heard, exerted your talents to save the lives of 
Union men in the hour of their peril, ought to 
have a determining weight when your opinions 
have been deliberately formed. You ask for 
these men's lives. You shall have them. You 
say that the clemency of the government is best 
for the cause we all have at heart. Be it so. 
You are likely to be better informed upon this 
than I am. I have no wish to do anything but 
that which wiU show the men of Louisiana how 
great a good they were tempted to throw away 
when they were led to raise their hands against 
the constitution and laws of the United States. 

" If this example of mercy is lost upon those 
in the same situation, swift justice can overtake 
others in like manner offending." 

The men were reprieved, and consigned to 
Ship Island " during the pleasure of the presi- 
dent of the United States." This was on the 
fourth of June. Mumford was to die on the 
seventh. 

The scaffold was erected in front of the Mint, 
near the scene of his crime. To the last minuto 
General Butler was earnestly implored to spare 
him. The venerable Dr. Mercer, a man of 
eighty honorable years, once the famihar friend 
and frequent host of Henry Clay, a gentleman 
of boundless generosity and benevolence, the 



94 



GENERAL BUTLER AND' THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



patron of all that redeemed New Orleans, came 
to head-quarters an hour before the execution, 
to ask for Muniford's life. 

"Give mo this man's life, General," said he, 
■while the tears rolled down his aged cheeks. 
" It is but a scratch of jour pen." 

"True," replied general. 'But a scratch of 
my pen could burn New Orleans. I could as 
soon do the one act as the other. I think one 
would bo as wrong as the other." 

In truth, the reprieve of the six had rendered 
the saving of Mumford impossible. That act of 
mercy, like all the rest of General Butler's acts 
in New Orleans, wa.s utterly misinterpreted by 
the people, who attributed it to weakness and 
cowardice. It was, and is, the conviction of the 
best informed officers and Union citizens then in 
New Orleans, that upon the question of hanging 
or sparing Mumford depended the final suppres- 
sion or the continued turbulence of the mob of 
the city. Mumford hanged, the mob was sub- 
dued. Mumford spared, the mob remained to 
be quelled by final grape and canister. There 
was absolutely needed for the peaceful govern- 
ment of the city, a certainty that General Butler 
dared hang a rebel. 

Mumford met his doom with the composure 
with ■which bad men usually die. lie said that 
"the offense for which he was condemned was 
committed under excitement, and he did not 
consider he was suffering justly. He conjured 
all who heard him to act justly to all men ; to 
rear their children properly ; and when they 
met death they would meet it firmly. He was 
prepared to die ; and as he had never wronged 
any one, he hoped to receive mercy." 

An immense concourse beheld the execution. 
The turbulent spirits of New Orleans drew the 
proper inferences from the scene. Every one 
concerned in the administration of justice in the 
city felt a certain confidence, before unfelt, in 
their ability to rule the city without violence. 
Every soldier felt safer; and the friends of the 
Union had an assurance that, at length, they 
were really on the stronger side. Order reigned 
in "Warsaw. 

The name of Mumford, if wo may believe 
Confederate newspapers, was immediately added 
to the " roll of martyrs to the cause of liberty." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 

" "Whatever else may be said of business in 
New Orleans," remarked the humorous Delta, 
"one thing is certain, consuls are lower." 

Consuls were very high indeed during the 
first few weeks of the occupation of the city. 
Their position in New Orleans had been one of 
first-rate importance during the rebellion ; lor it 
was chiefly through the foreign capitalists of the 
city that the Confederacy had been supplied 
with arms and munitions of war, and it had 
been the congenial office of the consuls to afTord 
them aid and protection in that lucrative 
business. They forgot that they were only con- 
suls. They forgot the United States. Often 
communicating directly with the cabinet minis- 
ters of their countries, always flattered and 



made much of by the supporters of the rebel- 
lion, expecting with the most perfect confidence 
the triumph of secession, representing powers 
every one of which dosired or counted upon its 
success, thoy assumed the tone of embassidors; 
they courted the power which they assumed 
would finally rule in New Orleans, and held in 
contempt or aversion ihe one to which they 
were accredited. 

These gentlemen gave General Butler more 
trouble, caused him more hard work, than any 
other clas.s in New Orleans. They opposed 
every measure of his whicli could be supposed 
V" bear upon any man of foreign origin. Mr. 
Seward was overrun with their protests, com- 
plaints and petitions. If fjie secretary of the 
treasury approved the commander of the Depart- 
ment of the Gulf as the cheapest of generals, 
the secretary of state found him mucli the most 
troublesome. The coiTcspondence relating to 
this single subject would fill two or three 
volumes as largo as this. 

A collision between the foreign consuls and 
General Butler almost necessarily involved a 
difference between General Butler and Mr. 
Seward. The two men are moral antipodes. 
Mr. Seward has too little, General Butler has 
enough, of the spirit of warfare. !Mr. Seward, 
by the constitution of his mind and the habits 
of thirty years, is a conciliator, one who shrinks 
from the final ordeal, who is reluctant to face 
the last consequences, skillful to postpone, ex- 
plain away, and "make things pleasant." Gen- 
eral Butler, on the contrary, rejoices in a clear 
issue, goes straight to the point, uses language 
that bears but one meaning, and "takes the 
responsibility" as naturally as he takes his 
breakfast. Mr. Seward so dreaded the approach 
of the war, that he was more than willing to 
make concessions which would pass the final, 
the inevitable conflict over to the next genera- 
tion. General Butler picked up the glove with 
a feeling akin to exultation, and adopted war as 
the business of the country and his own, desir- 
ing no pause till the controversy was settled 
absolutely and for ever. Mr. Seward regarded 
the southern oligarchy as erring fellow-citizens, 
who could be won back to their allegiance. 
General Butler regarded them as traitors, utterly 
incapable of conversion, who could bo rendered 
harmless only by being made powerless. Mr, 
Seward, as the head of the foreign department, 
felt that all his duties were subordinate to the 
one cardinal, central object of his policy, the 
maintenance of peace with foreign nations while 
the rebellion showed front. General Butler, 
always breasting the foremost wave of t'\e rebel- 
lion, could not be very sensitive to the gentle 
murmurs of Mr. Seward's reception-room. The 
men were subject to two opposite, antagonistic 
magnetisms. General Butler was John Ileenan 
pegging away at Sayers, thinking of nothing 
but getting in fair blows. Mr. Seward was the 
distressed bottle-holder who wanted Heenan to 
win, but thought Sayers too good a fellow to be 
smashed. 

Hence we find that when the foreign ministers 
brought their complaints to the department of 
state, Mr. Seward generally, and at once, took 
it for granted that General Butler was wrong. 
He could do no other way, without insincerity. 
The men are so essentially antagonistic, that no 



Gi^NERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



95 



really characteristic act of either could fail to 
excite in the other an instinctive disapproval. 

Similar rcmarlis apply to Mr. Reverdy Jolm- 
son, of Maryland, the eminent and verj- able 
lawyer who was sent by Mr. Seward to New 
-Orleans to investigate the consular imbroglio. 
As a native of a Southern state, it was natural 
that he should feel a certain degree of sympathy 
with the suffering people of Louisiana, and 
be disposed to take a lavorable view of -their 
side of a dispute with General Lutler. If, in 
1862, he thought secession a mistake and a 
crime, in all other particulars he was in accord 
with his southern friends. His heart and mind, 
bis friends and habits, were southern. In New 
Orleans ho associated almost exclusively with 
secessionists — who felt, who avowed, who 
boasted that he was their friend. Granting that 
he had the most honorable intentions (I am sure 
be had no other), it was not in human nature 
that he should judge justly between General 
Butler and the rebels of New Orleans. Nor can 
we doubt that he was sent to New Orleans, and 
knew that he was sent, to comply with the de- 
mands of foreign powers, if it could be done 
without concessions too palpably humiliating. 

Here is the point: every one knows the 
difference that may exist between a law case as 
presented in the law papers, and the known 
fiicts of the case. A merchant, for example, 
finds it convenient to " make over" his property 
to a friend. The papers show that he has not 
a dollar in the world, while the fad is, that he 
possesses a quarter of a million. Every one in 
the court may know the fact ; yet the papers 
carry the day. A bank may find it advantageous 
to seem to possess no coin. Any lawyer can 
suggest a mode by which this can be done, and 
a judge in ordinary times might be obliged to 
decide in accordance with the documents. What 
General Butler would have liked was a com- 
missioner who would have sought out the 
hidden fact, not one who was content with the 
paper case. But Mr. Seward was chiefly con- 
cerned to keep the peace with foreign powers, to 
deprive them not merely of all cause of complaint, 
but of all pretext. Far be it from me to pre- 
sume to say that he w^as wrong. " One at a 
time" is a good rule, when a nation has a war 
on its hands. His course may have been jus- 
tified by necessity. 

It is impossible to detail here all the points of 
colhsion between General Butler and the foreign 
consuls. The more important cases were the 
following : 

CASE OF THE BEITISH GUARD. 

The British Guard consisted of fifty or sixty 
Englishmen, old residents of New Orleans, many 
of them men of large properly and extensive 
business. On returning to their armory, late in 
the evening, after the disbanding of the Foreign 
Legion, they had held a formal meeting, at which 
it was voted to send their arms, accouterments, 
and uniforms to the camp of General Beauregard. 
On learning this, a few days after the occupation 
of the city, General Butler sent for Captain 
Burrows, the commander of the company, who 
confessed the fact. The general then directed 
him to order his company to leave New Orleans 
within twenty-four hours ; and declared his in- 
tention to arrest and confine in Fort Jackson 



any who should fail to obey the order. The 
violation of the law of neutrality had been clear 
and indefensible. These men had enjoyed for 
many years the protection of the United States 
government, under which they acquired wealth 
and distinction, and then embraced the first 
opportunity' that had offered to give material aid 
to its enemies. Captain Burrows could only 
object that part of the companj^ had been absent 
from the meeting and it would be unfair to 
punish the innocent with the guilty. General 
Butler assented, and ordered those of the com- 
pany who had not participated in the offense, to 
appear before him with tlieir arms and uniforms, 
the rest to obey the previouri order. 

The acting British consul, Mr. George Coppell, 
hastened to intirpose. Ho could not deny that 
the act charged against his couutiymen was a 
violation of the law ; but he said they had done 
it with " no idea of wrong or harm." He en- 
larged upon the inconvenience it would be to 
those highly respectable gentlemen to leave the 
city, where their affairs were extensive and im- 
portant. In fact, it would not be even " possible" 
tor some of them to leave ; and if General Butler 
should persist, it would be the duty of the con- 
sul to solemnly protest against the " verbal 
order of questionable legality, the enforcement 
of wliich would infringe the rights of British 
subjects residing in New Orleans." 

The general replied by recounting the facts 
with the exactness of a lawyer. " These people 
he added, " thought it of consequence that Beau- 
regard should have si.xty more uniforms and 
rifies. I think it of the same consequence tliat 
he should have sixty more of these faithless men, 
who may fill them if they choose. I intend this 
order to be strictlj' enforced. I am content for 
the present to suffer open enemies to remain in 
the city of their nativity ; but law-defying and 
treacherous alien enemies shall not. 1 welcome 
all neutrals and foreigners who have kept aloof 
from these troubles which have been brought 
upon the city, and will, to the extent of my 
power, protect them and their property. They 
shall have the same hospitable and just treat- 
ment they have always received at the hands 
of the United States government. They 'wQl 
see, however, for themselves, that it is for the 
interest of all to have the unworthy among 
them rooted out ; because the acts of such 
bring suspicion upon all. All the facts above 
set forth can easily be substantiated, and in- 
deed, are all evasively admitted in your note by 
the very apology made for them. That apology 
says, that these men, when they took this action 
— sent these arms and munitions of war to 
Beauregard — ' did it with no idea of wrong or 
harm.' I do not understand this. Can it be 
that such men, of age to enroll themselves as a 
military body, did not know that it was wrong 
to supply the enemies of the United States with 
arms ? If so, I think they should be absent 
from the city long enough to learn so much inter- 
national law ; or do you mean to say, knowing 
their social proclivities, and the lateness of the 
hour when the vote was taken, therefore they 
were not responsible ? There is another difii- 
culty, however, in those people taking any pro- 
tection under the British flag. The company 
received a charter or commission, or some Ibrm 
of rebel autliorization from llie governor of 



96 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



Louisiana, and one of tliom, whom I Iiave under 
arrest, acct)nipanicd liim to the rebel camp. 
There is still anotlior dilBculty. I am informed, 
and believe that a majority of them have made 
declarations of their intentions to become citizens 
of the United States, and of the supposed Con- 
federate States, and have taken the proper and 
improper oaths of allegiance to effect that pur- 
pose." 

The order was executed. Every member of 
the company (for none of them could produce his 
arms or uniftirm) fled from tlie city, except the 
captain and one other. These two found them- 
selves prisoners in Fort Jackson. Mr. Coppell 
related the case to Lord Lyons, who laid it before 
Mr. Seward. The secretary of state admitted the 
illegality of the act committed by the British 
Guard; but, iu effect, recommended Captain 
Burrows and his friend to the mercy of the com- 
manding general, and advised their release. Ac- 
cordinglj', after several weeks' detention, they 
were set at liberty. 

General Butler, justly offended at the tone and 
substance of Mr Coppell's remonstrance, intimated 
to that gentleman that, though he signed himself 
"Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul," he had 
exhibited no proof of his right to that honorable 
designation. " The respect," said General Butler, 
" which I feel for that government leads me to 
err, if at all, upon the side of recognition of your 
claims, and those of its officers ; but I take leave 
to call your attention to the fact that you sub- 
scribed yourself ' Her Britannic Majesty's Acting 
Consul,' and that I liave received no official infor- 
mation of any riglit you may have so to act, ex- 
cept your acts alone, and pardon me if I err in 
saying, that your acts in that capacity, which 
have come to my knowledge, have not been of 
8uch character as to induce the belief on my part, 
tliat you rightfully represent that noble govern- 
ment." 

It happened that Mr. Coppell could not produce 
the necessary documents. As he continued to in- 
terfere with General Butler's measures, and that 
too, in the style of a resident unfriendly minister, 
the general had the pleasure of refusing to recog- 
nize him, and he remained witliout official char- 
acter until he could procure from "Washington the 
necessaiy proofs of his ajjpointment. 

Case of Charles Heidsieck. 

This individual, it appears, was the head of tVie 
great French house of dealers iu Heidsieck cham- 
pagne. He was a native and citizen of France, 
but had come to the southern states to look after 
delinquent creditors, and had resided, for some 
Stme, in Mobile. Ho entered his name upon the 
books of the Pick Keys and the Natchez, steam- 
boats permitted by General Butler to convey 
provisions to New Orleans, as bar-tender ; made 
live trips in tliat disguise, and brought to and 
from Mobile a very large quantity of letters, 
several of wliiuh, containing treasonable infor- 
mation, were sent to Washington by General 
Butler. As Uiedsieck was departing for Fort 
Jackson, he called on his consul tor help. " I 
have the honor," he wrote, '• to ask you to see 
what you have to do for mo in this matter, hav- 
ing come and left this city under a flag of truce." 
What the consul concluded be had to do for him 
wo shall SCO iu a moment. After several 



months' imprisonment at Fort Jackson and F ;rt 
Pickens, he was released by orders from Wash- 
ington. He then forwarded to tho Government 
a memorial, in the French manner, asking ft'pa- 
ration for hi.s detention. Tliis impudent claim 
from a man who only escaped tlie ignominious 
death of a spy by the clemency of the govern- 
ment, elicited from General Butler an amusing 
narrative of the case, which the evidence before 
me at this moment proves to be true in every 
particular. 

" The facts with regard to Heidsieck may be 
stated in a word. I learned that intelligence was 
being conveyed to New Orleans and Mobile for 
the rebels. I believed the city agent to be trust- 
worthy. There was no channel except the em- 
ployes of the boat, no passengers being allowed. 
I caused an inquiry to be made, and found 
Heidsieck on board in disguise, and that he spent 
all his time, between trips, in this city. Before 
I had the facts reported to me, he had gone to 
Mobile with the last trip of the steamer. It may 
be assumed I was glad to see him, when he re- 
turned, iu his true character of ' bearer of dis- 
patches. ' I arrested him as a spy — I confined 
him as a spy — I should have tried him as a spy, 
and hanged him upon conviction as a spy, if I 
had not been interfered with by the government 
at Wasliington. 

" He had, when arrested, a canvas wrapper, of 
the size of a peck measure, firmly bound up with 
cords, covering letters from the French, Swiss, 
Spanish, Prussian, and Belgian consuls, also a 
great number of letters to private persons, mostly 
rebels, or worse, intermeddling foreigners, con- 
taining contraband intelligence. A portion of 
these letters were forwarded to the honorable 
secretary of state, in December last, by me. To 
show the utter falsity of Heidsieck's narrative, 
let me advert to his statement, that he stole 
away a paper which, ho says, ' I recognized as 
the envelope of my dispatches ; the envelope, by 
the folds, to which the remnant of the seals still 
adhered, which could alone give to M. De Mejan 
the correct idea of the bulk of the dispatches.' 
It will be recollected that it has already been 
stated by me that the letters were inclosed in a 
canvas wrapper, tied up with cord, which Heid- 
sieck, in his memorial, represents me as being 
engaged for some minutes in ' cutting and break- 
ing. ' How then could any paper show the size 
of the package? I sent Heidsieck to Fort Jack- 
son, which was, at that time, tlie only military 
prison in my department, and where confine- 
ments were usually made. Immediately after 
his arrest, the French consul notilied me that he 
had referred the matter to his minister at Wash- 
ington, and I accordingly sent my dispatch to 
the secretary of state, and rested in taking meas- 
ures for the trial until I receivL'd instructions 
from the government. 

" A number of French residents of New Or- 
leans, however, petitioned me as an act of grace 
to release Heidsieck, and allow him to go to 
Europe, to remain during the war. I finally con- 
sented, and gave orders for his release upon that 
condition, as an act of clemency. For this order 
his friends were very grateful, and so expressed 
themselves both by letter and iu person. This 
parole was declined by Heidsieck, although I 
supposed the api)lication had been made by his 
consent aud his procurement. Perhaps, how- 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



97 



ever, this refusal may be explained by the fact 
stated in his memorial, that the French consul, 
two days afterward, started for "Washington ' on 
my account.' 

" It will be seen, in all points, Heidsieck 
claims that all suspicion should be diverted Irom 
himself as to his neutrality, because he was act- 
ing in concert with Count Mejan, the French con- 
sul at New Orleans; but it will not escape recol- 
lection that M. Mejau's own propriety of conduct 
and neutrality has, hy subsequent revelations, 
been shown to be worse than doubtful — the re- 
pository of almost a half million of specie loaned 
by the Banlc of New Orleans to the Confederate 
government, for the purpose of purchasing army 
clothing, and receiving a commission for his 
agency. Count Mejan lias been, very properly, 
recalled by his government, and can hardly, by 
his character, cover the suspected acts of Heid- 
sieck traveling between rebel cities in the guise 
of a bar-tender. 

" He now desires reparation for his confine- 
ment. Let Heidsieck be ordered back into con- 
finement ; let a court-martial of impartial officers 
at New Orleans be ordered to try him as a spy, 
with a competent judge advocate ; and if he is 
acquitted, I pledge myself to the extent of my 
private means, to make good to him all he has 
suffered, provided his government will agree, 
that if found guilty, he shall be hanged, as he 
ought to be without any intervention on its part. 

" If Heidsieck had not been taken out of my 
hands by the action of my government, I should 
have ordered him before a court for trial, aud I 
believe he would have suffered for his crimes 
against the country that had given him the 
protection of its laws." 

So much for Charles Heidsieck, bar-tender and 
dealer in champagne. TVe come now to an 
affair that made more noise in the world. 



SEIZURE OP 



000 IN SILVER 



To justify the seizure of this mass of coin, it is 
not necessary to prove that it constituted part of 
the cash capital of the Confederate government, 
or that it was secreted for the purpose of de- 
frauding the creditors of the Citizens' Bank, from 
the vaults of which it was so suddenly removed 
before the occupation of the city. It is only 
necessary to show that there existed strong 
grounds of suspicion with regard to it. The 
silver was not confiscated, it was merely seized 
and held for adjudication. The rebel govern- 
ment, at the beginning of the war, had not been 
content merely to seize and hold the coin in the 
mint and sub-treasury of the United States ; but 
had appropriated the same to its own purposes. 
The subjects of that government had not merely 
postponed the payment of the two or three 
hundred millions which they owed northern mer- 
chants and manufacturers ; but had first repu- 
diated the debts, and then proceeded to place it 
for ever beyond their power to pay them ; to say 
nothing of the universal confiscation of property 
in the South which belonged to northern men. 
This silver, on the contrary, was seized and 
detained, merely that the extremely suspicious 
circumstances of its concealment might be inves- 
tigated. 

Let me remark, first, that the mysterious 
transfer of the silver, in the quiet of a Sunday 



morning, from the Citizens' Bank to the Dutch 
consulate, was condemned, at the time of the 
transfer, by the T)-ue Delta, a secession paper ; 
and condemned on grounds shown, in 18G3, 
to be just. •' If we are correctly informed," said 
tlie True Delia of April 2Gth, •' tlie coin which 
has taken wings from the Citii;ens' Bank is trans- 
ferred to Dutch hands to discliarge indebtedness 
in Holland not yet for some time due, and for 
which the bank advancing the specie is no more 
responsible than is any other living institution 
in this place. "Were it otherwise, however, were 
the debt its own we can not see the propriety 
at a time like this, to deplete its vaults to antici- 
pate a debt, or to pay a foreign creditor prefer- 
entially." It thus appears that the transaction, 
though imperfectly understood, made upon the 
honest mind of John Maginnis, editor of the 
True Delta, precisely the same impression that 
it made upon General Butler. 

A few days after the landing of the troops, a 
negro informed Lieutenant Kinsman that an 
immense number of kegs of silver had been 
taken to the store of a Frenchman named Con- 
turie, a liquor dealer, and secreted in a large 
vault; in testimony whereof the negro produced 
a Bible in which he had made some hieroglyphic 
entry of the fact, witli a view to its being com- 
municated to the Union general when he should 
arrive. Farther inquiry substantiating the ne- 
gro's story, General Butler sent Captain Sliipley 
of the Thirtieth Massachusetts, with a file of six 
or eight soldiers, to examine the office of M. 
Conturie, who proved to be the consul of the 
Netherlands. At two in the afternoon of May 
lOlh, Captain Shipley presented himself at the 
consulate. It appeared to be an insurance office, 
though the consular flag of tlie Netherlands was 
flying over the door. M. Conturie was found, and 
Captain Shipley, with marked courtesy, informed 
him of the object of his visit, adding, that he was 
ordered to prevent the departure of persons or 
property from the building. M. Conturie, with 
needless vehemence, and in a style that savored 
of the dramatic, said : 

" I am the consul of the Netherlands. Thia 
is the office of my consulate. I protest against 
any such violation of it." 

He solemnly declared, and many times de- 
clared, that the part of the building occupied by 
him contained nothing but the property belong- 
ing or appertaining to the consulate, or to him- 
self as an individual. He positively refused to 
allow the vault or office to be searched. After 
some further conversation -^-ith Captain Shipley, 
he wrote a note to the Count Mejan, consul- 
general of France, which he requested might be 
sent to that personage, as he wished to consult 
with him. "V'ery naturally ; for the Count Me- 
jan was more deeply involved in the secretion 
of coin than M. Conturie. Captain Shipley 
promised to send the note to the French consul, 
provided it was approved at head-quarters. To 
head-quartera he accordingly repaired, leaving 
Conturie a prisoner in his consulate. 

The general decided that M. Conturie's note 
should not be forwarded to the French consul, 
whom the affair did in no way concern. Captain 
Shipley reappeared at the Dutch consulate, com- 
municated his intention to search the premises, 
and demanded of M. Conturie the key of the 
vault. The consul refused to deliver it. 



98 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



" Then I shall be obliged to force the door," 
said the captain. 

" With regard to thet, you -will do as you 
please," said Coriturio, who again protested 
against the violation of his ofSco and flag. 

As Captain Shipley had not the means of 
forcing the vault, he was again compelled to 
return to head-quarters. As ho turned to go, 
the consul said : 

" Sir, am I to understand that my consular 
ofiBce is taken possession of, and myself am 
arrested by you; and that, too, by order of 
Major-General Butler?" 

"Yes, sir," replied Captain Shipley. 

General Butkr, upon receiving the captain's 
report, sent him back to the consulate, accom- 
panied by Lieutenant Kinsman, of his staff, an 
officer peculiarly well fitted for extracting a key 
from a contumacious consul — a gentleman per- 
fectly capable of the suaviter in modo, but equally 
versed in iheforiikr in re. To the consul, Lieu- 
tenant Kinsman politely said: 

" Sir, I wish to look into your vault ?" 

The consul replied: "It contains only my 
private eflects, and the property of the con- 
sulate." 

Lieutenant Kinsman: "Sir, I wish to look 
into your vault. Give me the key. ' 

" Mr. Conlurie : " I will not." 

Lieutenant Kinsman to officers : " Search the 
office. Break open, if need be, the doors of the 
vault." 

Mr. Conturie, rising: "I, Amedie Conturie, 
Consul of the Netherlands, protest against any 
occupation or search of my office ; and this I do 
in the name of my government. The name of 
my consulate is over the door, and my flag floats 
over my head. If I cede, it is to force alone." 

The search began. Conturie then said, it 
would be of no use to search the office, for the 
key of the vault was upon his own person. 

Lieutenant Kinsman to officers: "Search this 
man." 

Captain Shipley and Lieutenant "Whitcomb, 
approached " this man" to obey the order. 

Lieutenant Kinsman : " Search the fellow 
thoroughly. Strip him. Take off his coat, his 
stockings. Search even the soles of his shoes." 

M. Conturie : " You call me fellow 1 That 
word is never applied to a gentleman, far less to 
a foreign consul, acting in his consular capacity, 
as I am now. I ask you to remember that you 
used that word." 

Lieutenant Kinsman: "Certainly; fellow is 
the name I applied to you. I don't care, if you 
were the consul of Jerusalem ; I am going to 
look into your vault." 

One of the otficers took a key from the coat- 
pocket ol'thc consul, which proved not to be the 
one required. Conturi6 then made a slight 
movement, which plainly said, that the pocket to 
look into, was a certain one in his pantaloons. 
The silent hint was taken. The key was found. 
The vault was opened ; and, lo I a cord and a 
half of kegs of silver coin, marked " Hope & Co." 
The kegs were one hundred and sixty in number, 
each containing five thousand Mexican dollars. 
Many other articles were found in the vault — tin 
boxes, containing bonds of the cities of Now Or- 
leans and Mobile, the consul's exquatur and 
other papers belonging to him. Certain dies, 
bank-plates, and engraving tools of the Citizens 



Bank, were also discovered. A subsequent 
search brought to light plates of the Confederate 
treasury notes, and some of the paper upon which 
the notes were usually printed. Such were the 
articles which the veracious Conturie declared 
were the property of his consulate and of himself 

The consul was released earl}' in the evening. 
The next day, the silver, three wagon loads, and 
all the other articles found in the vault, were re- 
moved to the Mint, and the o'fiee was vacated 
by the troops. The Confederate plates were for- 
warded to Washington, where the}' now are; 
the rest of the property was held, subject to the 
disposal of the government. 

M. Conturie immediately drew up a narrative 
of what had occurred, suppressing his declarations, 
so emphatic, so oft repeated, that the vault con- 
tained nothing but his own and consular proper- 
ty, and complaining bitterly of Lieutenant Kins- 
man's strong language and stronger measures. 
This he sent to General Butler, who thus replied : 

" Your communication of the 10th instant is 
received. The nature of the property found con- 
cealed beneath your consular flag — the specie, 
dies, and plates of the Citizens' Bank of New Or- 
leans — under a claim tiiat it was private property, 
which claim is now admitted to be groundless, 
shows you have merited, so far as I can judge, 
the treatment you have received, even if a little 
rough. Having prostituted your flag to a base 
purpose, you could not hope to have it respected 
so debased.'' 

May 12 th — Every consul in New Orleans, ex- 
cept the Mexican, to the number of nineteen, 
joined in protesting against " the iudignity," " the 
severe ill-usage," and the "imprisonment for 
several hours," to which the sacred person of M. 
Conturie had been subjected. 

General Butler replied : 

" Messrs. : I have the protest which yoo 
have thought it proper to make in regard to the 
action of my officers toward the consul of the 
Netherlands, which action I approve and sustain. 
I am grieved that, without invesligalion of the 
facts, yon, Messrs., should have thought it your 
duty to take action in the matter. The fact will 
appear to bo, and easily to be demonstrated at 
the proper time, that the flag of the Netherlands 
was made to cover and conceal property of an in- 
corporated company of Louisiana, secreted under 
it from the operation of the laws of the United 
States. That the supposed fact that the consul 
had under the flag only the property of Hope & 
Co., citizens of the Netherlands, is untrue. He 
had other property which could not by law be 
his property, or the property of Hope & Co. ; ol 
this I have abundant proof in my own hands. 
No person can excel me in the respect which I 
shall pay to the flags of all nations, and to the 
consulate authority, even while I do not recog- 
nize many claims made under them ; but I wish 
it most distinctly understood that, in order to be 
respected, the consul, his office, and the use of 
his flag, must each and all be respectable." 

M. Conturie's next step was, of course, to sub- 
mit the case to Mr. Van Limburg, the minister 
of the Nctherlauds at Washington, who, in turn, 
laid it before Mr. Seward, with all the exagger- 
ations of Conturie's' narrative. Mr. Van Lim- 
burg is a very respectable and learned gentle- 
men. It is pleasing to notice with what joyful 
alacrity he embraced the opportunity of writmg 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



99 



long and erudite dispatches, sucli as lias rarely 
fallen to the lot of a minister oFtiie Netherlands 
residing at Washington. The ponderous dis- 
patches with which this worthy gentlemen kept 
Mr. Seu'ard busy during- the summer of 18G2, are 
they not attached to the president's message ? 
from page 625 to page 652. They are there, 
with all their Latin quotations considerately trans- 
lated. "Justicia, regnorum fundameutum (jus- 
tice is the foundation of kingdoms)." To de- 
scribe tlieso dispatches it is only necessary to saj'- 
that they are precisely such as Dominie Samson 
would have written, had he been minister of the 
Netherlands in the year 1862, at the city of 
"Washington. 

Mr. Seward, in repl}'- to Mr. Van Limburg's 
first dispatch, said, that he thought the consul 
bad done wrong, but not so wrong as to justify 
the roughness of Lieutenant Kinsman. '• It ap- 
pears," said tlie secretary of state, '^beyond dis- 
pute, tiiat the person of the consul was unneces- 
sarily and rudely searched ; that certain papers 
which incontestably were archives of the consu- 
late, were seized and removed, and that they are 
still withheld from him ; and that he was not 
only denied the privilege of conferring with a 
friendly colleague, but was addressed in very dis- 
courteous and disrespectful language. In these 
proceedings the military agents a.ssumed functions 
which belonged exclusively to the department of 
state, acting under the direction of the president. 
Their conduct was a violation of the law of na- 
tions, and of the comity due from this country to 
a friendly foreign state. The government disap- 
proves of these proceedings, and also the sanction 
which was given to them by Major-G< neral But- 
ler, and expresses its regret that the misconduct 
thus censured has occurred." 

This is a curious passage. It appears to say, 
that only the secretary of state, acting under the 
authority of the president, has the right to put 
his hand into a consul's pocket, and take out a 
key. Lieutenant Kinsman, one day in Washing- 
ton, asked Mr. Seward what was the next thing 
to do after Conturie refused to give up the key? 
The secretary did not answer the question. It 
certainly was a puzzler. 

Mr. Seward farther informed Mr. Van Limburg 
that the president had appointed a military gov- 
ernor of Louisiana, General Shepley, " who has 
been instructed to pay duo respect to all consular 
rights and privileges, and a commissioner will at 
once proceed to New Orleans to investigate the 
transaction which has been detailed, and take 
evidence concerning the title of the specie, and 
bonds, and other property in question, with a 
view to a disposition of the same, according to 
international law and justice. You are invited 
to designate any proper person to join such com- 
missioner, and attend his investigations. This 
government holds itself responsible for the money 
and the bonds in question, to deliver them up to 
the consul, or to Hope & Co., if they shall appear 
to belong to them. The consular commission 
and exequatur, together with all the private pa- 
pers, will be immediately returned to M. Con- 
turie, and he will be allowed to resume, and, for 
the present, exercise his official functions. Should 
the facts, when ascertained, justify a representa- 
tion to you of misconduct on his part, it will in 
due time be made, with the confidence that the 
subject will receive just consideration by a gov- 



ernment with which the United States have lived 
in amity for so many years." 

Mr. Van Limburg declined joining in the in- 
vestigation. The United States, he said, must 
investigate the actions of its servants. For him 
to take part in it, would be to acknowledge that 
General Butler's conduct was possibly right. 
Besides, no seals had been placed upon the kegs 
and boxes, and these contained the very evidence 
of the consul's innocence. " It is for Major-Gen- 
eral Butler to prove what he alleges. Ei incum- 
bii prohatio qui dicit, non qui negat (the burden 
of the proof lies upon him who asserts, not upon 
him who denies), says the Pandects. It is not 
for me, it is not for our cotisul, to prove that he 
is innocent. Prima facie the money delivered 
b}^ the ' Citizens' Bank' to the agent of the house 
of Hope & Co., to be transmitted to that house, 
or to be deposited with the consul of the Nether- 
lands, is a legitimate money legitimately trans- 
ferred. I could not, without having received the 
orders of the government of the king, participate 
in any manner in an investigation which would 
tend to investigate that which I could not put in 
doubt — the good fliith of the agent of the house 
of Hope & Co., the moral impossibility that that 
honorable house should lend itself to any culpa- 
ble underplot, the good faith of the consul of the 
Netherlands. QuiUbet praesumiter Justus donee 
prohitur contrarium (every one is to be presumed 
honest until the contrary is proven), saith the 
ancient universal rule of justice." If any charge 
is made against the consul, we will investigate 
that. And if General Butler is guilty of the acts 
charged by Conturie, wo expect his — in fact — 
removal. Meantime, what is the status of M. 
Conturie ? Is he consul, or is he not ? 

Mr. Seward had informed the minister, that M. 
Conturie would be " allowed" to resume his 
functions at once, before the affair had been in- 
vestigated. The minister demanded that he 
should be ^^ invited" to do so. Mr. Seward re- 
plied : " I have no objection to your writing to 
the consul that it is the president's expectation 
that he will resume and continue in the discharge 
of his official functions until there shall be far- 
ther occasion for him to relinquish them." The 
minister rejoined : " I regret, sir, not to be able 
to accept that formula without submitting it to 
the judgment of the government of the king." 
The minister more than carried his point ; for 
we find Mr. Seward writing to him soon after, 
that, ''' siviultaneoxisly with the appointment of Mr. 
Johnson as commissioner, Major-General Butler 
was relieved of liis functions as military gover- 
nor of New Orleans, and Brigadier-General Shep- 
ley was appointed military governor of that 
city ; the mihtary authorities were at the same 
time directed to invite M. Conturie to resume his 
consular functions." 

True, the appointment of a military governor 
was a mere diplomatic fiction, which did not in 
the slightest degree affect General Butler's posi- 
tion or power. In the view of the world, how- 
ever, he was both censured and degraded ; and 
that too, upon the extravagant, unsupported tes- 
timony of a foreign consul, whose conduct the 
secretary of state himself had censured. The 
public was not informed, as General Butler was 
informed by a member of the cabinet, that Gen- 
eral Shepley was selected for the military gover- 
norship, because he was supposed to be the most 



100 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



acceptoblo officer to General Butler, who bad al- 
ready made liim the mihtary governor of the city. 

To those who believe that the first duty of a 
government is to stand by its faithful servants, 
this mode of "backing" General Butler in his 
difficult position will not commend itself Whe- 
ther General Butler's course had been right or 
wrong, was a question upon which there could 
have been two opinions ; and Mr. Reverdj' John- 
son was sent to New Orleans to ascertain which 
of those opinions was correct. There could be 
but one opinion respecting the conduct of the 
consul of the Netherlands, who had lent the pro- 
tection of his flag to property designed to sup- 
port the credit of the armed foes of the power to 
which ho was accredited. I cannot conceive 
what there was in the position of the Dutch 
minister, or the power he represented, to justify 
this unquestioning haste to concede everything 
which they thought proper to demand. 

The commissioner selected to go to New Or- 
leans, and investigate the consular imbroglio, 
arrived early in June, and was ready to begm 
his inquiries on the tenth. General Butler re- 
ceived Mr. Johnson with every courtesy, invited 
him to reside at head-quarters, and did all that 
in him lay to facilitate his investigations. Mr. 
Johnson was equally polite, though he declined the 
general's invitation with regard to his residence. 
He spent six weeks in investigating the several 
cases of collision between General Butler and 
the consuls. 

It appeared that on the 24th of February, 
1862, the Citizens' Bank of New Orleans had 
conceived the idea of suddenly getting rid of a 
great part of its coin. "With regard to the eight 
hundred thousand dollars deposited in the vault 
of M. Conturie, the following resolutions were 
shown to Mr. Johnson on the books of the bank : 

" Whereas, the present rate of exchange on 
Europe would entail a ruinous loss in this bank 
for such sums as are due semi-annually in Am- 
sterdam for the interest on the state bonds. 

" Be it therefore resoleved, That the President 
be and is hereby authorized to make a special 
deposit of eight hundred thousand dollars ($800,- 
000) in Mexican dollars in the hands of Messrs. 
Hope & Co., of Amsterdam, Holland, agents of 
the bond-holders in Europe, through their au- 
thorized agent, Edmund J. Forstall, Esq., for the 
purpose of providing for the Interest on said 
bonds. 

" Be it further resolved, That such portions of 
tne above sum as may be required from time to 
time to pay the interest accruing on the state 
bonds shall be so applied by Messrs. Hope & 
Co., provided, however, that the bank shall have 
the option of redeeming an equivalent amount 
in coin by approved sterling exchange to the 
satisfaction of the agents of Messrs. Hope & Co. ; 
and provided farther, that in the event of the 
blockade of this port not being raised in time to 
allow of the shipment of the said coin, then the 
said Edmund J. Forstall will arrange with 
Messrs. Hope & Co. for the necessary advances 
to protect the credit of the state and of the bank 
until such time as the coin can go forward to 
liquidate said debt ; but no commission shall be 
allowed for such shipment of coin or any other 
expenses, except those actually incurred ; and 
on the resumption of specie payment by tbia 



bank this trust to cease and the balance of coin 
to be returned to the bank." 

The papers farther showed, that on the 12th 
of April, the agent of Messrs. Hope & Co., " with 
a view to their better security in such times of 
excitement, deemed it his duty to withdraw the 
said sum of eight hundred thousand dollars, al- 
ready marked and prepared for shipment, say, 
one hundred and sixty kegs, Hope & Co., con- 
taining five thousand dollars each, and to place 
the same under the protection of the consul of 
the Netherlands, Amadie Conturie, Esq., for 
which he held his receipt." 

It also appeared, that two days after the re- 
moval of this large sum, the bank sold other coin 
amounting to seven hundred and sixteen thou- 
sand one hundred and ninety-six dollars, to the 
French bankers, Messrs. Dupasseur & Co., which 
they paid (or in drafts upon bankers in Paris and 
Havre. This coin was deposited in the French 
consulate, where it was seized by General But- 
ler, and where, for the present, we will leave it. 

Now, what did these strange transactions 
mean ? The paper case was plain enough, and 
Mr. Johnson thought it his duty to decide ac- 
cording to the papers, and give up all the coin, 
and all the articles found with it, except the 
plates of the Confederate treasury notes. But 
the decision, though it satisfied the secretary 
of state, does not even appease the curiosity 
of a disinterested reader. Surely there was 
ground for suspicion here. The attempted trans- 
fer of so large an amount of coin to Europe, from 
the chief city of the rebel government, at a time 
when all legitimate commerce had ceased, was 
certainly a matter demanding the attention of 
the commanding general. 

Mr. Forstall, the New Orleans agent of Hope 
& Co., in a letter to that eminent house, written 
three days after the seizure of the coin, gives a 
history of the aflair, from which it appears, that 
the solicitude professed by the bank for the in- 
terests of Hope & Co., was not shared by the agent 
of Hope <& Co., who strongly advised another dis- 
position of the silver, and accepted it with reluc- 
tance and doubt. It also appears that the office 
claimed by Conturie as the consulate of the 
Netherlands, was nothing but a vault, hired by 
him for the sole purpose of hiding the coin. Mr. 
Forstall's letter farther shows, that the explana- 
tion of the transfer of the coin, which Mr. John- 
son read upon the books of the bank, was a 
fiction. 

I believe this is all the light I am able to throw 
upon the transaction. One more fact, however, 
should be stated. It was not true, as the 2Vue 
Delta intimated, that the Citizens' Bank. had no 
particular interest in sustaining the credit of the 
state bonds. Those bonds bore the indorsement 
of the bank, and constituted the basis of its capi- 
tal. The explanation given by the editor of the 
True Delta, of the transfer of the coin, may how- 
ever, be the correct one. The Citzens' Bank, 
probably, deemed it more important to have a 
powerful friend in Europe, than to secure its 
creditors at home. If this is the true view, then 
justice and patriotism appear to have required 
that the silver should have been replaced in the 
vault of the bank, not restored to the agent of 
Hope & Co. The money having been consigned 
to Europe, the bank has since gone into liqui- 
dation. 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



101 



In tho same spirit, Mr. Johnson decided upon 
the coin deposited with the French consul by 
the same bank. Per^^aps some light may be 
thrown upon that mysterious transaction, by the 
relation of a later affair in which the consul of 
France was engaged. 

DETECTION AND REMOVAL OF THE FRENCH 
CONSUL. 

In September, 1862, Mr. Sandford, our minister 
at Brussels, wrote home that the Confederate 
agents in Europe were seriously embarrassed by 
the non-arrival of a large amount of coin from 
New Orleans. Notes had been renewed ; pur- 
veyors of cloth could not be paid ; and Confed- 
erate aflairs generally were at a dead lock. 
"But," he added, "assurances are now given 
that the money is in the hands ef the French con- 
sul, and would be shortly received." 

A copy of this interesting letter was forwarded 
to General Butler, with directions to investigate. 
General Butler has a knack at investigating, and 
Le performed this pleasing duty with an energy, 
skill, promptitude, and success rarely equaled. 
His report upon the subject was so irresistibly 
conclusive, that the French government felt com- 
pelled to recall a too assiduous, an imprudently 
faithful servant. I can not do the reader a bet- 
ter service than by transcribing this report. The 
supporting documents must necessarily be omit- 
ted, but to show their nature, I retain General 
Butler's references to them. 

'"Head-qitartebs, Department of the Gulf, 

I " New Orleans, 2iov. 13, 1862. 

"To Hton. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary (if War: 

"Sijt: — I received the communication of tho 
war department inclosing a copy of a letter from 
the state department, directing my attention to 
the statement made by Mr. Sandford, our minis- 
ter resident at Brussels, a copy of which I inclose 
for the better understanding of the present com- 
munication. In obedience to its directions I set 
about making inquiries through my secret police, 
and finding it a matter of very grave import as 
affecting t he relations of the French consul here, 
I undertook a personal examination of the sub- 
ject. The facts as substantiated by the docu- 
mentary and other testimony, hereto appended, 
are substantially these : 

" The firni of Ed. Gautherin & Co., composed 
of Ed, Gauth erin and Alfred and Jules Lemore, 
doing business in New Orleans, was also con- 
cerned in a hpuse at Havre, S. A. Lemore & Co. 
Jules and All'red Lemore, the partners in New 
Orleans, were also partners in that house. 
Gautherin & Cc^. were at first employed in buying 
tobacco for th<^ French government, afterward 
they were concerned in shipping cotton in joint 
account. They represent themselves to be agents 
of Baron Villers, the contractor for French army 
clothing. 

"On the 29th day of July, 1861, as will ap- 
pear from the copy of a contract with the Con- 
federate governmtvnt, herewith inclosed, and 
marked X, the original of which is in my posses- 
sion, Gautherin & Co.. agreed to furnish the Confed- 
erates with a large amount of cloths for uniforms, 
which are the cloths spoken of in the communi- 
cation of Mr. Sandford. ^ About the first of April, 
of this year, a cargo of Che goods was shipped to 
Havana, and from thenc'^ to Matamoras, under 



charge of tho senior partner of the house of Ed- 
ward Gautherin & Co., now in Europe. 

" That cloth was smuggled across to Browns- 
ville, and delivered to Captain Shankey, quarter- 
master and agent of the Confederate government. 
The original invoice and receipt are hereto an- 
nexed, marked E and F. Between the 14th and 
2-lth of April, the day tho fleet passed the Ibrts, 
Mr. J. B. D. De Bow, produce loan-agent of the 
Confederate States, made application to the 
' Bank of New Orleans' for a loan of four hun- 
dred and five thousand dollars in coin without 
interest, as will appear by the communication 
hereto annexed, marked C. This proposition 
was acceded to by the bank, upon a pledge, 
made by Payne, Huntington & Co., the junior 
partner of whicli firm was president of the bank, 
of cotton to be delivered on the plantations in 
Louisiana and Mississippi. The contract is here- 
to annexed, and marked D. 

" This transaction was not entered into in good 
faith, as is confessed by the testimony of the 
acting president, Mr. Davis, taken from his own 
lips, in short hand, a copy of which is hereto 
annexed, marked 0. 

" But the transaction was a contrivance by 
which the specie might he got out of the bank. 
Specie to this amount was placed in the hands 
of the French consul with his full knowledge of 
the intent of the transaction, and a receipt was 
given by him to hold it in trust for the Bank of 
New Orleans. At the same time, a pretended 
sale of the remainder of the specie in bank, 
amounting to four hundred thousand dollars for 
sterUng, was made by the bank, and that sum 
was also placed in the hands of the French con- 
sul.* These two sums, amounting to eight hun- 
dred thousand dollars, made substantially the 
whole specie capital of the bank. This is shown 
by the confession of the only director of the bank 
who has not run away into the Confederacy, Mr. 
Harroll, a copy of whose statement is hereto 
annexed, marked R. 

" Matters stood in this condition at the time 
the city of New Orleans was taken possession 
of by us. Upon my assurance to the bank, that 
if they would return their specie, they should be 
protected, the pretended sale for sterling ex- 
change was annulled, and the French consul 
sent back the money, and the bank received 
into its vaults four hundred thousand dollars. 

"In regard to the four hundred and five 
thousand dollars, the French consul became 
uneasy, and moved upon the bank to get at his 
receipt given to the Bank of New Orleans, and 
gave a new receipt, running directly to Gau- 
therin & Co. 

" At this point of time, I ordered all the specie 
in the hands of the French consul to be seques- 
tered and held until affairs could be investigated. 

" Reverdy Johhnson, on commission of the 
state department, came down here, and without 
investigation, and without knowing anything of 
the transactions, and without even inquiring of 
me about them, made such representations to 
the department of state, that I was ordered to 
release the French consul from his promise not 
to deliver up any specie held in his hands with- 
out informing me, which order I obeyed. 

* I need hardly call the reader's attention to the 
simil.-vrity of this "contrivance" for petting rid of 
specie to that employed by the Citizeai' Bank. 



\ 



102 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS, 



^.EIGN 



" In the mean time, Gaulherin & Co. had suc- 
ceeded in delivering tlieir goods to tlie Con- 
federate Stales agouts, and called upon the bank 
to get their money, which liad been deposited in 
the hands of the French consul. This delivery 
had not been completed at Brownsville until 22d 
June ; and some time in the last of July, the 
bank, through ils officers, gave up its receipts, 
which were destroyed, and look a receipt which 
was dated back to the 16lh of April, directly 
from Gaulherin & Co., so that the French consul's 
name would not appear in the transaction. 

" These facts are established by the testimony 
of Mr. Belly, the c;ishier of the bank, which is 
written out and signed, and sworn to by him, a 
copy of which is annexed, marked P. The 
money was sent on board the Spanish man-of- 
war Blasco de Garay, whicli left this port in 
September last, and has now returned, and has 
been carried to Havana, and thence sinpi)ed to 
New York. All tliis has been done with the 
knowledge and consent of the consul of France. 
" You will see by the letter of Mr. Sandford 
the difficuliies which the Confederates had of 
getting more goods, ou account of the non-paj'- 
meut of the hrst bill. Another cargo is now in 
Havana, not to be delivered, of course, until the 
first is paid for. By this wrongful, illegal, and 
inimical interference of the French consul, aided 
by the Spanish ship-of-war, tlie money has gone 
forward, so that the holders of the goods will be 
ready to ship the remainder for the benefit of the 
Confederate army. A more flagrant violation of 
international law and national courtesy on the 
part of a consular agent, can not be imagined. 

" Before I proceeded upon the investigation, 
not knowing the extent to whicli tlie French 
consul wa« implicated, I called upon him, and 
after showing him a letter from the commanding 
general of the army, in which 1 was directed to 
cultivate the most friendly relations with him, I 
read him a letter from our minister at Brussels, 
and told him I should desire his friendly aid in 
making the investigation, and then asked him if 
he knew anything of the transaction spoken of 
in the letter of Mr. Sandfurd, or if any money 
had been deposited with him for any such pur- 
pose. He in tlie most emj)hatic -manner assured 
me that lie knew nothinc/ of any such transaction. 
He only knew that there was a French house of 
the name of Gautherin & Co. in New Orleans, 
and declared that no money had ever been de- 
posited with him for any such purpose. I then 
informed him that it would become my duty to 
arrest and question Alfred and Jules Lemore, 
the resident partners of the French house. I did 
80, and they denied all such transaction, or re- 
fused to answer, lest they should ' criminate them- 
Belve.s.' But, in the meantime, I had possessed 
myself of iheir books and papers, and found 
two accounts, translations of which I inclose, 
marked B A, which show the whole transaction; 
and which also show that one Kossuth, a clerk 
of the French consul, whose name appears in the 
account, received $528.02 as a foe for keeping 
the money within the French consulate; that a 
doMeur was given to Madam Mejan for the purpose 
of ' carrying out the affair well ;' that a lawyer 
was paid to deal with the consul in this matter ; 
and these papers, with tiie testimony of the 
president, director and cashier of the bank, put 
the guilt of Count Mejan beyond question. I 



beg leave to call your attention to this extra- 
ordinary amount of expenses ($19,939.40). 

" I need not suggest to the department that 
it is ils duty at once and peremptorily to revoke 
the exequatur of Count Mejan. He has connived 
at the delivery of army clotiiing of the Confederate 
army, since the occupation of New Oilcans by 
the federal forces; he has taken away gold from 
the bank, nearly half a million of its specie to aid 
the Confederates ; acts which could not have 
been done without his aid, and that of the 
Spanish siiip-of-war Blasco de Garay. 

" I leave the consul to the goverment at "Wash- 
ington. I will take care sufficiently to punish 
the other alien enemies and domestic traitors 
concerned in this business whom I have here. 

"Upon examination of the parties, I found 
that a box containing all the papers relating to 
the transaction, which were not kept with the 
commercial papers of the house of Gautherin & 
Co., was deposited with the French Consul. I 
wrote to him, very politely, to have it delivered 
to me for the purpo.se of justice. I have again 
written him more peremptorily, and he has 
refused to do so, still concealing the proofs of 
guilt. If produced, I believe it will show hina 
to be one of the five parties concerned in the 
illegal traffic mentioned in the account of ex- 
penses ; and however that may be, he now 
covers the criminal as he lately concealed the 
booty, which he, his wife and his clerk so largely 
shared. 

" I beg leave here to call the attention of the 
department to these transactions, as showing 
tliat I was clearly right when I ordered the 
specie deposits in the hands of Count M(?jan to 
bo sequestered. His flag has been made to 
cover all manner of illegal and hostile trans- 
actions, and the booty arising tlierefrom. I am 
glad that my action here has been vindicated to 
the world, and that the governmen\, of the 
United Slates will be able to demand of the 
French government a recall of its hostile agent. 

"I have the honor to be, 
"Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

"Benj. F. Butler, Major- Gen. Com. 

This it is to "investigate" an affair. I know 
not which most to admire, the vigor and the tact 
displayed in procuring tlie evidence, or the clear- 
ness walh which the sesults of tht) inquiry are 
stated. 

General Butler alludes several times to the bill 
of "charges and expenses" found in the books 
of Gautherin & Co. It is an exlvemely curioua 
document. The following are the> items : 

"June 29. By payment to Ed. Gautherin 
and Jules Lemore to go to Richmond, $481. 

" July 20. By remittance to them at Rich- 
mond, $450. French consul loan, $50. 

" March 1. Expenses of E. Gautherin & Co. 
and Jules Lemore for passago from New Or- 
leans to New York and Havre., $700. 

" May 27. Voyage of Ch. Privelland to Rich- 
mond and back, $543. Maiutain to Richmond, 
five weeks, $475.60. Expenses of L. Grotairs 
at Antwerp, $9.98. Consul fees and certificates, 
$3G.20. 

" August 10. Present fx> Madam Mejan {wife 
of French Consul), to chse the affair well, $153. 
Colonel Lcmat, as a bribe f.n the affair to start 
well, $2,500. V. Priter*., for the bill of Alexander, 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



103 



according to the agreement of the five interested 
parties, $5,000. Kossutli (clerk of French con- 
sul), one-eiglith per cent, of $405,000, deposited 
in consulate, $528.20. Payment to Faelle for 
getting Hie receipt, $500. liobert (lawyer), for 
proceedings with authorities and consul, $500. 

"August 31. Ch. BrioUand, expenses to 
Matamoras, $3,790. Jules Lemore, expenses 
from January 1, to September 1, 1862, $1,089.71. 
Payment of cabs and transport of nine boxes of 
gold, $60. Expenses of telegraph and postage, 
$150. Insurance on gold in consulate, six 
mouths, one-half per cent, on $405,000, $2,025. 
River insurance on Blasco de Uaray, one-eighth 
per cent, on §250,000, $312.50. Marine insur- 
ance, from here to New York, on specie, $585.26. 
E. Gautherin, expenses paid in sum, $4,058.50. 
Ferran & Duprerris, Havana, as a memorandum, 
$4,058.50." 

Total, $19,939.40 11 

So much tor the French Consul. I cannot 
resist the impression that the same methods of 
investigation, applied to other cases, would have 
yielded results strikingly similar. 

CASE OF KENNEDY & CO. 

Steamboat-hunting was a favorite pastime with 
the Union soldiers during the first weeks of their 
occupation of the city. The rebels had burned 
a large number of their steamboats, but many 
had been hidden in bayous and swamps supposed 
to be impenetrable to ihe unaccustomed Yankee. 
The men had rare adventures in hunting this 
valuable game, some of which may hereafter be 
related. On board one of the steamers found, 
uamed the Fox, captured by General McMillan, 
a mail-bag was discovered, the contents of which 
brought several of the people of New Orleans 
into trouble — Messrs. Kennedy & Co., cotton 
merchants, among tlie number. 

General Butler brietiy relates the case; "Ken- 
nedy & Co., were mercliants doing business in 
New Orleans, the members of which firm were 
citizens of the United States. They shipped 
cotton (bought at Vicksburg and brought to New 
Orleans) from a bayou on the coast, whence 
steamers were accustomed to run the blockade 
to Havana, in defiance of the law and the pres- 
ident's proclamation, and under the farther 
agreement with the Confederate authorities here, 
that a given per cent, of the value of their cargoes 
should be returned in arms and munitions of 
war for the use of the rebels. 

" Without such an agreement no cotton could 
be shipped from New Orleans, and this was 
publicly known ; and the fact of knowledge that 
a permit for the vessel to ship cotton could only 
be got on such terms was not denied at the 
hearing. 

" The cotton was sold in Havana, and the net 
proceeds invested in a draft (first, second, and 
third of exchange) dated April 30th, 1862, pay- 
able to the Loudon agent of the house of Ken- 
nedy & Co., and the first and second sent forward 
to London, and the third, with account sales and 
vouchers, forwarded to the firm here through an 
illicit mail on board the steamer 'Fox,' likewise 
engaged in carrying unlawful merchandise and 
an illicit mail between Havana and the rebel 
Btatea. 

'' The third of exchange and papers were 



captured by the army of the United States, on the 
10th day of May, on board the ' Fox,' Jia/jrant^t 
delictu, surrounded by the rebel arms and muni- 
tions, concealed in a bayou leading out of Bara- 
taria Bay, attempting to land her contraband 
maUs and scarcely less destructive arms and 
munitions to be sent through the bayous and 
swamps to the enemy. 

" During all this time, P. H. Kennedy & Co. 
have not accepted the amnesty proflered by the 
proclamation of the commanding general, but 
preferred to remain within its terms rebels and 
enemies. 

" Upon this state of facts, the commanding 
general cahed upon Kennedy & Co. to pay the 
amount of the not proceeds of the cotton (the 
third of exchange of the draft), which, with the 
documents relating to this unlawful transaction 
he had captured, as a proper forfeiture to the 
government under the facts above stated ; which 
was done." 

General Butler voluntarily submitted this case 
to the judgment of Mr. Johnson, who decided 
against the forfeiture, on the following grounds : 

1. That there was no capture of the property 
or its representative while actually running the 
blockade. 

2. That there was no personal delection in 
Kennedy & Co. in the acts done by them, which 
could render them subject to forfeiture. 

3. That the blockade being raised by the 
proclamation of the president before tlie capture 
of the draft, all delection on account of the trans- 
action was purged. 

These points lie argued precisely as he would 
have argued them had the rebellion been a legiti- 
mate war between two foreign nations; quoting 
such authorities as Vattel, Grotius, PuttendortJ 
and Wheaton, who wrote on international law. 
General Butler yielded to the decision, and paid 
back the money ($8,641); but he could not 
refrain from reviewing Mr. Johnson's argument. 
Addressing Mr. Johnson himself, he remarked 
that, "as applied to this transaction, the cita- 
tions and arguments derived from elementary 
writers upon the law of nations, are of no valua 
This is not the case of a resident subject of a 
foreign state attempting to elude the vigilance 
of a blockade by a tbreign power of a port of a 
third nation. The rule that the successful run- 
ning of the blockade, or a subsequent raising of 
the blockade purges the transaction so far as 
punishment for personal delection is concerned, 
is too familiar to need citation, at least by a 
lawyer to a lawyer. It would be desirable to 
see some citations to show that there was no 
personal delection in the transaction under con- 
sideration. 

" A traitorous commercial house directly en- 
gage in the treasonable work of aiding a rebellion 
against the government, by entering into a trade, 
the direct eflect of which is to furnish the rebels 
with arms and munitions. To do this they inten- 
tionally violate the revenue laws, the postal 
laws of their country, as well as the laws pro- 
hibiting trade with tbreign countries from this 
port, and are caught in the act, and fined only 
the amount of the proceeds of their illegal and 
treasonable transaction. 

" Their lives by every law, were forfeit to the 
country of their allegiance. 

"The reoresentative of that country takes a 



104 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



comparatively small fine from them and a com- 
jaissiouorof tbat same country refunds il because 
u: its impropriety. 

" Grotius, Pufleudorf, Vattel, and Wheaton 
will be searched, it is believed, in vain, for a 
precedent for such action. Why cite interna- 
tional law to govern a transaction between the 
rebellious traitor and his own government ? 
Around the state of Louisiana the government 
had placed the impassable barrier of law, cover- 
ing each and every subject, saying to him, from 
that state no cotton should be shipped and no 
arras imported, and there no mails or letters 
should be delivered. 

"To warn off foreigners, to prevent bad men 
of our own citizens violating that law, the gov- 
ernment had placed ships. Now, whatever may 
be tliu law relating to the intruding foreigner, 
can it be .said for a moment that the fact that a 
traitor has successfully eluded the vigilance of 
the government, that that very success purges 
the crime, which might never have been ciminal 
but for that success. 

" The tine will be restored, because stare 
decisus, but the guilty party ought to bo and 
will be punished. 

" A course of treatment of rebels which should 
have such results, would not only be 'rose- 
water,' but diluted ' rose- water. " 

" The other reason given for the decision that 
the blockade had been raised, is a mistake in 
point of fact, both in the date and the place of 
capture. The capture was not made of a vessel 
running into the port of Xew Orleans when the 
blockade was raised, but from one of those 
lagoons where, in former times, Lafitte the pirate 
carried on a hardly more atrocious business. 

"Something was said at the hearing that this 
money was intended by Kennedy & Co. for 
northern creditors. 

"Sending it to England does not seem the 
best evidence of that intention. 

"But, of course, no such consideration could 
enter into the decision. I have reviewed this 
decision at some length, because it seems to mo 
that it offers a premium for treasonable acts to 
traitors in the Confederate States. It says, in 
substance, 'Violate the laws of the United 
States as well as you can, send abroad all the 
produce of the Confederate States 3'ou can, to bo 
converted into arms for the rebellion ; you only 
take the risk of losing in irannitu ; and as the 
profits are four-fold you can afford to do so. 
But it is solemnly decided that in all this there 
is no ^piirsonaL deiection,^ for which you can or 
ought to be punished oven by a fine, and if you 
are, the line shall be returned.' " 

Mr. Johnson replied to this review in a volu- 
minous and ably written argument, which was 
handed to General Butler three hours before its 
author sailed for the North. There was, there- 
fore, no opportunity for reply. The chief point 
of Mr. Johnson's new argument was, that there 
was no evidence that Kennedy & Co. had agreed 
to invest any portion of tlie proceeds of tlio 
cotton in arms and munitions of war. They 
denied that they had either engaged to do this, 
or had done it. This defense, since by Con- 
federate law no cotton could be exported on 
any other terms, was equivalent to saying that 
K.«Hinedy & Co. bad been faithless to both gov- 



ernments, and were liable to two actions for 
treason instead of one. 

ENGLISU AND SPANISU MEN-OF-WAR AT NEW 
ORLEANS. 

The officers and crews of foreign vessels-of- 
war that chanced to vi.sit New Orleans in the 
summer and autumn of 18G'i, took pains to show 
that they were in accord with the secession consuls 
and the disloyal citizens. New Orleans was a 
good place to learn that in this great quarrel 
there are arrayed against the United States the 
entire baseness, and a great part of the ignorance, 
of the human race. Every one in the world is 
against us, who is willing to live upon the unre- 
quited, or upon the ill-requited, labor of others. 

The British ship-of-war Rinaldo was in port 
during the early days of July. The humor of 
the ofScers and crew of this ship may best bo 
shown from the matter-of-fact report of Mr. 
James Duane, lieutenant of police : — " Having 
learned on Thursday evening that a large crowd 
of turbulent citizens was collected on the levee 
opposite the steamer Rinaldo, and that on board 
that vesst'l certain parties were engaged in sing- 
ing the 'Bonnie Blue Flag,' and crying 'Down with 
the Stars and Stripes,' and that the crowd were 
responding by cheers for Jeff. Davis, the Southern 
Confederacy, &c. ; and, apprehending a riot, I 
detailed my entire force, and accompanied them 
myself to the levee, where I arrived about eight 
o'clock p. M., and found a crowd of nearly two 
thousand men, women, and children. From the 
ship I distinctly heard the singing of the 'Bonnie 
Blue Flag,' cheers for Jeff. Davis; cries of 
'Dowu with the Stars and Stripes,' and 'Up 
with the Flag of the Single Star.' The response 
by the crowd was not general, but confined to an 
occasional voice, and as last as it occurred I 
arrested the party so responding. The same con- 
duct occurred on Friday night, to my personal 
knowledge. 

"From my ofiBcers, and citizens residing in 
the neighborhood, I have received iuformatioa 
that the same proceedings took place on the Wed- 
nesday evening preceding the above, and, in ad- 
dition, that on that evening a secession flag was 
flying on board the Rinaldo for a short lime, and 
that a smaller flag of the Confederacy was flying 
from the boats that conveyed visitors to and firom 
the vessel and the levee. On Saturday evening 
the same demonstrations were repeated, with the 
exception of the display of secession flags. And, 
furthermore, on the same evening, between eight 
and nine o'clock, one of my officers saw an offi- 
cer of the Rinaldo, in unilbrm, accompanied by 
a man who claimed to belong to that vessel, and 
a tall negro. The officer was intoxicated, and 
was singing, the ' Botmie Blue Flag.' My offi- 
cer stepped up to him and told him he must not 
sing that song. The British officer replied that 
' ho would sing what ho damn pleased.' They 
then went on down the levee and got into their 
ship's boat, and as soon as they were out of the 
reach of the police officer, called out ' God damn 

the Yankee sons of , one EngHshman can 

whip ten of them,' and again sung the 'Bonnie 
Blue Flag,' all joining in the song." 

Word wan brought to General Butler, on the 
3d of July, that the captain of the Rmaldo had 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



105 



premised Lis secession friends to hoist the rebel 
flag on his s=liip on the morning- of the fourth. 
The general. I am told, avowed to a confidential 
member of liis staff, his solemn and deliberate re- 
solve, if the flag was officially di.splayed, to open 
fire upon the ship with artillery. The hoisting 
of the flag, he considered, would be more than 
an insult to the United States ; it would consti- 
tute the ship a rebel vessel, and, as sucli, she 
was to be fired upon, the very instant a Union 
gun could be brought to bear upon her. The re- 
port proved to be false. 

Still more outrageous was the conduct of the 
Spanish man-of-war. It was in a Spanish vessel, 
as we have seen, that the French consul shipped 
hia $405,000. Other Spanish vessels-of- war car- 
ried away passengers, treasure, plate, papers, 
which were justly liable to seizure. " The deck 
of the Blasco de Garay," wrote General Butler 
in October, " was literally crowded with passen- 
gers, selected with so little discrimination, that 
my detective officers found on board, as a pas- 
senger, an escaped convict of the penitentiary, 
who was in full flight from a most brutal murder, 
with his booty robbed from his victim with him." 
On other Spanish ships several persons deeply 
implicated in the rebellion, guilty of hostile acts 
after the capture of the city, eflected tlieir escape 
, to Havana, with large amonnts of treasure. 
Hence tlie claim of General Butler to search de- 
parting vessels-of- war, and hence a ream of com- 
plaints and protests from Spanish officers. 

THE QURANTINE IMBROGLIO. 

It is not generally known at the North, that, 
in the worst years, the mortality from yellow 
fever in New Orleans exceeds that from any 
epidemic that has ever raged in a civilized com- 
munity. It is worse than the modern cliolera, 
worse than the small-pox before inoculation, 
worse than the ancient plague. A competent 
and entirely trustworthy writer gives the facts 
of the yellow fever season of 1853, the most fa- 
tal year ever known : 

" Commencing on the 1st of August, with one 
hundred and six deaths by yellow fever, one 
hundred and forty-two by all diseases, the num- 
ber increased daily, until for the first week, end- 
ing on the 7 th, they amounted to nine ^hundred 
and nine deaths by yellow fever, one thousand 
one hundred and eighty-six of all diseases. The 
next week showed a continued increase: one 
thousand two hundred and eighty-eight yellow 
fever, one thousand five hundred and twenty-six 
of all diseases. This was believed to be the max- 
imum. There had been nothing to equal it in 
the history of any previous epidemics ; and no 
one believed it could be exceeded. But the 
next week gave a mournful refutation of these 
predictions and calculations ; for that ever mem- 
orable week, the total deaths were one thousand 
five hundred and seventy-five, of yellow fever 
one thousand three hundred and forty-six. But 
the next week commenced more gloomily stilL 
The deaths on the 22d of August were two hun- 
dred and eighty-three of all diseases, two hundred 
and thirty-nine of yellow fever. This proved to 
be the maximum mortality of the season. From 
this it began slowly to decrease. The month of 
August exhibited a grand total of five thousand 
one hundred and twenty-two deaths by yellow 



fever, and nearly seven thousand deaths of all 
diseases. Slowly the disease continued to de- 
crease, only for the want of victims, until on the 
6th of September (at whicli time these notes are 
transcribed), when it reached si.x;ty-five deaths 
by yellow fever, and ninety-five deaths of all di- 
seases. Looking back from this point, we find 
that the whole number of deaths by yellow fever, 
from its first appearance on the 28tl) May, were 
seven thousand one hundred and eighty-nine — 
deaths from all diseases nine thousand nine hun- 
dred and Ibrty-one. But tliere are three hun- 
dred and forty-four deaths the cause of which is 
not stated in the burial certificates. At least 
three-fourths of these may be set down to the 
yellow fever column — which would add two hun- 
dred and fifty more, and make the deaths by 
yellow fever seven thousand four hundred and 
thirty-nine. 

"But do these figures include all the deaths? 
Alas 1 no. Hundreds have been buried of whom 
no note was taken, no record kept. Hundreds 
have died away from the city, in attempting to 
fly from it. Every steamer up the river con- 
tributed its share to the hecatombs of victims of 
the pestilence. Nor do these returns include 
those who have died in the suburbs, in the towns 
of Algiers and Jeflerson City, in the villages of 
Gretna and Carrollton. But even these figures, 
deficient as they are, need no additions to swell 
them into proofs that the most destructive plague 
of modern times has just wreaked its vengeance 
upon New Orleans. Estimating the total deaths 
at eight thousand for tln-ee months, we have ten 
per cent, of the whole population of New Orleans. 
At this rate it will only require two years and 
four months to depopulate the city. 

" But only the unacclimated are liable to the 
disease, and so we must exclude the old resident 
acclimated population, which, with slaves, and 
free colored persons, embrace at least two-thirds 
of the summer population of New Orleans. This 
would reduce the number liable to yellow fever 
below thirty thousand. Of that number one- 
fourth have died in three mouths. There is 
scarcely any parallel to this mortality. The 
great Plague of London, in 1665, destroyed one 
out of every thirteen and one-tliird of its popu- 
lation. Thatof New Orleans, in 1853, destroyed 
one out of every ten of its total population, and 
one out of every four of those susceptible of the 
disease. This exceeds the mortality in Philadel- 
phia, in 1798, when it was estimated that one 
out of every six died."* 

These are terrible figures. The year 1853, 
was, however, an exceptional year. New Or- 
leans has often escaped the yellow fever for years 
in succession. Its visitations were frequent 
enough to make it an ever present terror during 
the summer months, and to reduce the sum- 
mer population of the city to a comparatively 
small number of unacclimated persons. The 
city had never escaped it in such circumstances 
as existed in 1862 ; had never escaped it when 
the fever raged iu the neighboring ports of Ha- 
vana and Nassau ; had never escaped it when 
the city was filled with persons unaccustomed to 
the climate. The rebels were, therefore, justified 
in anticipating, with perfect confidence, that the 
season of 1862 would present the same scenes 

♦ Harpers Magazine, November, 1853. 



106 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE FOREIGN CONSULS. 



of horror and devastation as those of 1853. 
J^o language can overstate the terrors of such 
■ visiiatiou. " Funeral processions," says the 
writer just quoted, " crowded every street. No 
vehicles could be seen except doctors' cabs and 
coaches, passing to and from the cemeteries, and 
hearses, often solitary, taking their way toward 
those gloomy destinations. The hum of trade 
was hushed. The levee was a desert. The 
streets, wont to siiine with fashion and beauty, 
were silent. Tlio tombs— tlie home of the dead 
— were tlie only places whore there was life, 
where crowds assembled, where the incessant 
rumbling of carriages, the trampling of feet, the 
murmur of voices, and all the signs of active, 
etirring life could bo lieard or seen. 

" To realize the full horror and virulenc eof the 
pestilence, you must go into the crowded locali- 
ties of tlie laboring classes, into those miserable 
shanties which are the disgrace of the city, where 
the poor immigrant class cluster together in filth, 
sleeping a half-dozen in one room, without ven- 
tilation, and having access to filthy, wet yards, 
which have never been filled up, and when it 
rains are converted into green puddles — fit 
abodes for fiogs and sources of poisonous malaria. 
Here you will find scenes of woe, misery, and 
death, M'hicli will haunt your memory in all time 
to come. Here you will see the dead and the 
dying, the sick and tlie convalescent, in one and 
the same bed. Hero you will see the living babe 
sucking death from tlie yellow breast of its dead 
mother. Here father, mother, and child die in 
one another's arms. Here you will find whole 
families swept oil' in a few hours, so that none 
tire left to mourn or to procure the rites of burial. 
Ofl'ensive odors frequently drew neighbors to such 
awful spectacles. Corpses would thus proclaim 
their existence, and enforce the observances due 
them. What a terrible disease 1 Terrible in its 
Insidious character, in its treachery, in the quiet 
serpent-like manner in which it gradually winds 
its folds around its victim, beguiles him by its 
deceptive wiles ; cheats his judgment and senses, 
and then consigns hiiu to grim death. Not like 
the plague, with its rod spot, its maddening fever, 
its wild delirium and stupor — not like the chol- 
era, in violent spasms and pro.«trating pains is 
the approach of the vomito. It assumes the 
guise of the most ordinary disease which flesh is 
heir to — a cold, a sliglit chill, a headache, a 
slight fever, and, after a while, pains in the back. 
Surely there is nothing in these I 'I won't lay 
by for them,' says the misguided victim ; the 
poor laborer can not alford to do so. Instead of 
going to bed, sending for a nurse and doctor, 
taking a mustard-b.'ith and a cathartic, he re- 
mains at his post until it is too late. He has 
reached the crisis of the disease before he is 
aware of its existence. The chances are thus 
against him. The fever mounts up rapidly, and 
the poison pervades his whole system. He 
tosses and rolls on his bed, and raves in agony. 
Thus he continues for thirty-six hours. Then 
the fever breaks, graduaUy it passes off— joy and 
hope begin to dawn upon him. He is through 
now. ' Am I not better. Doctor ?' ' You are 
doing well, but nm.st bo very quiet.' Doing 
well 1 How does the learned gentlemen know ? 
Can he see into liis stomach, and perceive there 
collecting the dark brown liquid which marks 
the dissolution that is going on? The fever sud- 



denly returns, but now the paroxysm is moro 
brief. Again the patient is quiet, but not so hope- 
ful as before. He is weak, prostrate, and bloodless, 
but he has no fever; his pulse is regular, sound, and 
healthy, and his skin moist. ' He will got well,' 
says the casual observer. The doctor shakes his 
head ominously. After a while, drops of blood 
are seen collecting about his lips. Blood comes 
from his gums — that is a bad sign, but such 
cases frequently occur. Soon he has a hiccough- 
That is worse than tho bleeding at the gums: 
then follows the ejection of a dark brown liquid 
which he throws up in large quantities; and this 
in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a 
thousand is tho signal that the doctor's function 
is at an end, and the undertaker's is to com- 
mence. In a few hours the coCOin will receive 
its tenant, and mother earth her customary 
tribute." 

Dr. McCorinick, who was in the city during 
those fearful weeks, has assured me that thia 
picture is not overcharged. 

It was such an evil as this that General But- 
ler set himself to ward from the city which he 
had been called to govern and protect. His suc- 
cess was most remarkable. The yellow fever 
raged at Na.ssau, at Havana, and at other neigh- 
boring ports, but New Orleans escaped. Twen- 
ty thousand unacclimated persons, strangers, 
northerners, were in Louisiana, but not one of 
them had the fever. On the contrary, the men 
of his conunaud enjoyed an extraordinary ex- 
emption from all mortal disease. They suffered 
little from the continuous heat, less from violent 
maladies. 

There was, indeed, one moment of danger, and 
of great alarm at head-quarters. Dr. McCor- 
mick, late in the season, when the danger was 
supposed to bo nearly over, came into tho Gene- 
ral's office one morning, and reported that a case 
of yellow fever of the worst type had been 
landed in the city. It was even so. Tho rigor 
of tlie quarantine had been once relaxed, and 
this was the alarming result. The aflair was 
kept as secret as possible. The house in which 
tho man lay was cleared of all inmates save him- 
self and one acclimated attendant. The block 
of which the house was part was walled around 
by sentinels. No living creature was permitted 
to enter or leave it. In five days the man died. 
Every article in his room was burnt or buried. 
His attendant was quarantined. The house, the 
block, the quarter of ilie city, was fumigated, 
cleansed, and whitewashed. Every precaution 
which the skill of the doctors could devise and 
tlie authority of the general enforce was em- 
ployed. No one caught the disease. This 
single case, brought from Nassau, was all the 
yellow fever known in New Orleans durkig the 
season of 1862. 

It is of the highest importance to tho future 
of Louisiana that the means employed by Gen- 
oral Butler to preserve the health of the city 
should be known. Sanitary science, as the 
reader is aware, was a familiar subject with him 
belbre he began his military career. His re- 
searches led him to adopt tho theory that the 
yellov/ fever is indigenous in no region where 
there is frost every winter. There is frost every 
winter in every part of the United States. He, 
therefore, concluded that tlie yellow fever is not 
a disease native to our soil, but is always brought 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



107 



from a tropical port. The gulf coasts generate, 
it is true, tlio malaria which serves as a medium 
for the most calamitous spread of the disease ; 
but tlie deadly poison which issues in the yellow 
fever is brought from abroad. The magazine is 
ready, but the foreign spark is indispensable. 
He relied chiefly, therefore, upon a quarantine ; 
and this he enforced witli such rigorous impar- 
tiality, that the state department was inundated 
with complaints, reclamations, and protests, and 
the ear of the public was assailed with charges 
of favoritism and corruption. But he never re- 
laxed his clutcli upon the throat of the Missis- 
sippi. " My orders" he wrote on one occasion, 
" are imperative and distinct to my healtli- 
ofi&cers, to subject all vessels coming from in- 
fected ports to such a quarantine as shall insure 
safety from disease. Whetlier one day or one 
hundred is necessary for the purpose, it will be 
done. It will be done if it is necessary to take 
the vessel to pieces to do it, so long as the United 
States has the physical power to enforce it. I 
have sulimitted to the judgment of my very 
competent surgeon at the quarantine the ques- 
tion of the length of time and the action to be 
taken to insure safety. I have by no order 
interfered with his discretion. If he thinks ten 
days sufScient in a given case, be it so ; if forty 
in another, be it so ; if one hundred in another, 
it shall be so." 

And so it was, as the volumes of documents 
unanswerably show. 

Here, I believe, we may take leave of the 
consuls for a while. As time wore on, they 
came to understand the altered conditions of 
their tenure of office. They learned that there 
really was in the world sucli a power as the 
the United States. They changed their opinion, 
too, of the man who represented that power in 
New Orleans; and during the latter half of 
General Butler's administration, his intercourse 
with them was generally of the most friendly 
and agreeable character. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION, 

To revive the business of New Orleans and 
cause its stagnant hfe to flow again in its ordi- 
nary channels, was among the first endeavors of 
General Butler after reducing the city to order 
and providing for its subsistence. It was neces- 
sary, at first, to compel the opening of retail 
stores, by the threat of a fine of a Imndred 
dollars a day for keeping them closed. Me- 
chanics refused to work for the United States. 
Certain repairs upon the light steamers, essential 
to the supply of the troops, could only be got 
done by tlae threat of Fort Jackson. One burly 
contractor was imprisoned and kept upon bread 
and water till he consented to undertake a 
piece of work of urgent necessity. The cabmen 
and draymen, as we have seen, required to be 
cajoled or impressed. This state of feeling, 
however, soon passed away. It was half affec- 
tation, half terror — the men only needed such a 
show of compulsit»n as would serve them as an 
excuse to their comrades. The ordinary busi- 
ness of the city soon went on as it had before 



the capture. The railroads were set running as 
ar as the Union lines extended. 

"Will it pay to run it?" the general would 
ask. 

'• Yes." 

" Then go ahead." 

So the people trafficked, and rode, and passed 
their days as they had been wont to do while 
under the sway of Mayor Monroe, General 
Lovell, and Mr. Soule. Perfect order generally 
prevailed. The general walked and rode about 
the city with a single attendant, by day and 
by night. A child could have carried a purse m 
its hand from Carrollton to Ghalmelto without 
risk of molestation. 

The commerce of the city could not be revived 
before the opening of the port. In one of his 
earliest dispatches. General Butler advised that 
measure, as well as a general amnesty for all 
past political offenses. The planters, however, 
were distrustful, and feared to place their sugar 
within reach of the Union authorities. 

To remove ^lieir apprehensions, the following 
general order was issued: 

"New Orleans, 31ay 4, 1862. 

" The commanding general of the department 
having been informed that rebellious, lying and 
desperate men have represented, and are now 
representing, to the honest planters and good 
people of the state of Louisiana, that the United 
States government, by its forces, have come hero 
to confiscate and destroy their crops of cotton 
and sugar, it is hereby ordered to be made known, 
by publication in all the newspapers of this city, 
that all cargoes of cotton and sugar shall receive 
the safe conduct of the forces of the United 
States, and the boats bringing them from beyond 
the lines of the United Stales forces, may be 
allowed to return in safety, after a reasonable 
delay, if their owners so desire; provided, they 
bring no passengers except the owners and 
managers of said boat, and of the property so 
conveyed, and no other merchandise except 
provisions, of which such boats are requested to 
bring a full supply, for the benefit of the poor of 
this city." 

In anticipation of the opening of the port to 
northern trade, and in order to convince the 
holders of produce that New Orleans was already 
a safe market, the general -determined, at once, 
to commence the purchase and exportation of 
sugar on government account. What merchants 
would call a " brilUant operation" was the result 
of his endeavors. Lying at the levee he had a 
large fieet of transports, which, by the terms of 
their charters, he was bound to send home in 
ballast. There is no ballast to be had in New 
Orleans at any time, and none nearer than the 
white sand of Ship Island, five days' sail and 
thirty hours' steam from the city. There was 
sugar enough on the levee to ballast all the 
vessels, at an immense saving to the govern- 
ment, to say nothing of the profit to be real- 
ized in the sale of the sugar at the North. 
He determined to buy enough sugar for the 
purpose. 

To show the wisdom of this measure, take the 
case of the steamer Mississippi, hired at the rate 
of fifteen hundred dollars a day. " She must 
have," exnlaiued the general, " two hundred and 



108 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



fifty tons of ballast. To go to Ship Island and 
have sand brought al<ingside in small boats, will 
take at least ten days ; to discharge the same 
and haul it away, will take four more. Thus, it 
will cost the government twenty-one thousand 
dollars to ballast and discharge the ship with 
Band, to say nothing of the cost of taking the 
Band away, or the average delays of getting it, 
if it storms at Ship Island. Kow, if I can get 
some merchant to ship four hundred hogsheads 
of sugar in the Mississippi as ballast, which can 
be received in two days almost at the wharf 
where she lies, and discharged in two more, the 
government will save fifteen thousand dollars by 
the dift'erence, oven if it gets nothing for freight. 
But, by employing a party to get the ballast, see 
to its shipment, and take charge of the business, 
as a ship's broker, and agreeing to let him have 
all he can get over a given sum — say five dollars 
per hogshead for his trouble and expenses of 
lading — the government in the case given will 
save two tliousand dollars more — four hundred 
hogsheads, at five dollars — say, in all, seventeen 
thousand dollars." 

It was difficult to start the affair from want 
of money. The government had no money then 
in New Orleans, and the general had none. By 
the pledge of the whole of his private fortune 
($150,000), he borrowed of Jacob Barker, the 
well-known banker, one hundred thousand dol- 
lars in gokl, and with this sum at command, he 
proceeded to purchase. Merchants were also 
permitted to send forward sugar as ballast, on 
paying to the government a moderate freight. 
The details of this transaction were ably ar- 
ranged by the general's brother, a shrewd and 
experienced man of business, who was allowed 
a commission for his trouble. The affair suc- 
ceeded to admiration. The ships were all bal- 
lasted with sugar. The government took the 
sugar bought by the general's own money, and 
repaid him the amount expended; the whole 
advantage of the operation accruing to the 
United States. The sole result to General But- 
ler was a great deal of trouble, and, at a later 
period, a great deal of calumny. The owners 
of some of the transports conceived the idea 
that the freight sliould be paid to them, or at 
least a part of it. General Butler opposed their 
claims, and the dispute was protracted through 
several months. The captains of the vessels, I 
am told, still rest under the impression that in 
some mysterious way the general gained an im- 
mense sum by this export of sugar. Mr. Chase 
knows better, i/e, if no one else, was abun- 
dantly satislied with the transaction. 

Having touched upon 'the subject of the 
calumnies so assiduously circulated with regard 
to the administration of General BtUler in New 
Orleans, it may, perhaps, be a.s well to add here 
the little that remains to be said on that edifying 
subject. 

First, let me adduce another little operation 
which has been construed to his disadvantage. 
I refer to a small quantity of cotton sent home 
from Ship Island by General Butler, whicli 
chanced to arrive a short time before the papers 
that explained the transaction. 

"This cotton," wrote General Butler to the 
quartermaster-general, " was captured by the 
navy on board a small schooner, which it would 



have been un-safe to send to sea. I needed the 
.schooner as a lighter, and took her from the 
navy. What should bo done with the cotton? 
A transport was going home empty — it would 
cost the United States nothing to transport it. 
To whom should I send it? To my quarter- 
master at Boston? But I supposed him on the 
way here. Owing to the delays of the expedi- 
tion, I found all the quartermaster's men and 
artisans on the island, whose services were in- 
dispensable, almost in a state of mutiny for want 
of pay. There was not a dollar of government 
funds on the island. I had seventy-five dollars 
of my own. The sutler had money lie would 
lend on my draft on my private banker. I bor- 
rowed on such draft about four thousand dollars, 
quite equal to the value of the cotton as I re- 
ceived it, and with the money I paid the govern- 
ment debts to the laborers, so that their wives 
and children would not starve. In order that 
my draft should be paid, I sent the cotton to my 
correspondent at Boston, with directions to sell 
it, pay the draft out of the proceeds, and hold 
the rest, if any, subject to my order; so that, 
upon the account stated, I might settle with the 
government. What was done? The govern- 
ment seized the cotton without a word of expla- 
nation to me, kept it until it had depreciated ten 
per cent., and allowed my draft to be dishonored ; 
and it had to be paid out of the little fund I left 
at home for the support of my children in my 
absence." 

Subsequent explanations completely satisfied 
the government, and the money was refundod. 

As these two transactions were the only ones 
of a commercial nature in which General Butler 
engaged while commanding the Department of 
the Gulf, and the only ones, I believe, in which 
he was ever concerned, the reader now has 
before him the entire basis of the huge super- 
structure of calumny raised by the malign per- 
sistence of rebels and their allies. Both of these 
transactions were solely designed to aid the 
work in hand, to remove unexpected obstacles, 
to anticipate measures which the government 
must instantly have ordered had it been near the 
scene of action. 

But he had a brother. It is true, he had a 
brother. 

When the port was opened in June, the con- 
dition of affairs was such that no man in busi- 
ness, with either capital or credit at command, 
could fail to make money with almost unex- 
ampled rapidity. Turpentine in New Orleans 
was a drug at three dollars ; in New York, it 
was in demand at thirty-eight. Sugar in New 
Orleans was worth three cents a pound ; in New 
York, six. Flour, in New York, six dollars a 
barrel ; New Orleans, twenty -four. Dry goods 
in New York were selling at rates not greatly in 
advance of prices before the war ; in New Or- 
leans, every article in tlie trade was scarce and 
dear. The rates of exchange were such as to 
afford an additional profit of fifteen per cent, on 
all transactions between the two ports. In such 
a state of affairs, the most useful class of persons 
are those whom ignorance and envy stigmatize 
as speculators. It is tliey who quickly restore 
the commercial equilibrium, who raise the value 
of commodities in one port and reduce it in the 
other, who give New York sugar and turpentine 



EFFORTS TOWxiRD RESTORATION. 



109 



which are useless in New Orleans, and supply 
New Orleans with the means of procuring com- 
modities essential to comfort and liealtli. The 
general's brother was one of the lucky men wlio 
chanced to be in business at New Orleans at the 
critical moment. An able man of business, with 
an experience of thirty years, with considerable 
capital and more credit, he engaged in this lucra- 
tive commerce with all the means and credit he 
could command. His gains were large; not as 
large as those of some other men ; but large 
enough to satisfy a reasonable ambition. lie 
neither had nor needed any advantages which 
were not enjoyed by other merchants. The 
anomalous state of things was his sufficient op- 
portunity. A merchant of half his talent could 
not have failed to increase his capital v/ith a ra- 
pidity altogether unexceptional. Later in the year, 
came the confiscations of rebel property, with 
frequent sales at auction of valuable commodi- 
ties. Of this business, too, he had an ample 
share — just the share his means and talents en- 
titled him to. No more and no less. 

It is impossible to prove a negative. Any one 
can make a vague charge of corruption, but no 
man can demonstrate it to be false. I can, 
therefore, only say, with reference to these in- 
tangible accusations, that I have now spent the 
greater part of a year surrounded by the papers, 
printed and manuscript, relating to General But- 
ler's administration of the Department of the 
Gulf; I have become, by repeated perusal, as 
familiar with those papers as a lawyer does with 
the documents of his greatest case ; I have con- 
versed almost daily with the gentlemen of stain- 
less name and lineage who were in the closest 
intimacy with him during the whole period of 
his administration, such as the heroic, lamented 
Strong, beau-ideal of gentleman and soldier, such 
as Major Bell, another name for uprightness ; I 
have listened attentively to all who had a tale to 
tell against General Butler, and have read the 
articles adverse to him that have appeared in the 
papers, and tried, in all ways, to get hold of some 
one charge definite enough for investigation ; 
and the result of all this conversation and in- 
quiry has been to produce in my mind the ut- 
most possible completeness of conviction that 
General Butler's administration was as pure as it 
was able. Everywhere in his dispatches I find 
truth and candor — no suppression, no half-truths, 
nothing designed to convey an impression at 
variance with the truth. I find that men loved 
him in proportion to tb*ir own loyalty and truth. 
I find his enemies, both there and here, to be 
enemies of their country and of human rights. 
All the testimony, including especially that of 
his foes, points to one conclusion — that he was 
a wise, humane, and honest ruler of a most per- 
verse generation. 

Corruption tliere was in New Orleans, as one 
notorious individual can testify, who found him- 
self in the penitentiary one day, sentenced to 
twenty-one years at hard labor for peculating the 
property of the government. Power was abused 
in New Orleans, as power always is by whom- 
soever it is wielded. But it was not abused with 
the knowledge or consent of the commanding 
general, nor were the evil-doers shielded by him 
from the just penalty either of crime or of error. 
His rule in Louisiana was greatly just and greatly 



wise. It was the harsh conflict of two antago- 
nistic civilizations, both imperfect, one fatally so. 
It was the sudden setting up of the rule of justice 
in a community which had almost lost tlie tra- 
dition of a just rule. It was a bringing of the 
inflation, the arrogance, the meanness, and the 
falsehood engendered by slavery, to the test of 
Yankee common sense and Yankee common law. 
From such a conflict there must needs arise a 
great outcry. Somebody must be hurt. Every 
creature that is hurt, cries out in the language 
natural to it. The natural language of an 
"original secessionist," damaged in a conflict 
with justice and good sense, and, at the same 
time, deprived of bowie-knife and pistol, is cal- 
umny of the man by whom that justice and good 
sense are brought to bear upon his pretensions. 
Falsehood is the element in which those un- 
happy people live, move, and have their being. 

But to resume. In one particular, General 
Butler's designs with regard to the commerce of 
New Orleans were baffled. He could not get 
cotton in any considerable quantity, although it 
was a constant object of his endeavors. The 
reason, as given to him by well-informed Louis- 
ianians, was this: About onelialf of the planters 
had burned their cotton, and these men would 
not permit their less enthusiastic neighbors to 
reap the advantage of their prudence. A httle 
cotton was procured from Mobile, by exchanging 
one bale of cotton for one sack of salt, and a little 
more was brought from Texas by special arrange- 
ment. It can not be said, however, that the 
world's supply of this commodity was much in- 
creased by the capture of New Orleans. Perhaps, 
two or three thousand bales may have been pro- 
cured in all. 

The currency of New Orleans was in a condition 
deplorably chaotic. Omnibus tickets, car tickets, 
shinplasters and Confederate notes, the last 
named depreciated seventy per cent by the fall 
of the city, wore the chief medium of exchange. 
The coin had been removed from the vaults of 
the banks to a place within the Confederate hnes, 
except that part of it which was deposited in the 
consulates. In compliance with the entreaties 
of Mr. Soule, and with the obvious necessities of 
the situation, General Butler had permitted the 
temporary circulation of Confederate notes ; but 
as this concession was known to be but tem- 
porary, it did not ^materially enhance the value 
of that spurious currency. The banks had been 
growing rich upon the traffic in Confederate 
paper, bought at a discount, paid out at par. 
When most other investments were unproduc- 
tive, bank shares had yielded large dividends. 
Until September, 1861, as many readers remem- 
ber, the banks of New Orleans had held aloof 
from the practical support of the Confederacy, 
had refused to suspend specie payments, and had 
transacted only a legitimate business. At that 
time, however, a threat of "harsh measures" 
from the Richmond government gave to some of 
the banks the pretext which they coveted for 
abandoning the honest course, and the rest were 
compelled to follow the bad example. Thence- 
forward, business in Louisiana was done in Con- 
federate notes, and the paper of the banks was 
little seen in circulation. The consequences of 
tlie sudden depreciation of those notes may be 
readily imagined. As the ofier of the city to 



110 



EFFORTS TOWARDS RESTORATION. 



redeem the notes was not fulfilled, tliey remained 
almost the sole medium of exchange in the hands 
of the people. 

Such a state of things obviously demanded the 
prompt iiiterfbroncG of the commanding general. 
The series of bold, original and masterly measures 
by which General Buller, in the course of a few 
weeks, gave to Now Orleans a currency as sound 
and convenient as that of New York and Boston, 
merits the reader's particular attention. 

There was one redeeming fact in the financial 
condition of tlie city to serve as a fulcrum to the 
general's lever. Most of the banks (all of them 
but three) were solvent and strong. True, their 
coin was gone, but it was not supposed to be 
lost Granting the coin to be safe, tlie banks 
were able to redeem their circulation, and safely 
afford the city the currency it needed. It re- 
quired all the general's intimate knowledge of 
banking, and all the force of his will, to bring 
the banks to perform this duty ; but after a 
struggle against manifest destiny, they all sub- 
mitted. 

The banks, T may premise, were anxious re- 
Bpecting the safety of their coin. After a con- 
ference with the general on the subject, an im- 
portant favor was asked him in writing by two 
gentlemen repiest-nting the banking interest 
"We understood you to say," wrote these gen- 
tlemen. May 13th, " that you were disposed to 
reaffirm tlie declaration made in your first proc- 
lamation, that private property of all kinds should 
be respected. You added that if the treasure 
withdrawn by the banks should be restored to 
their vault?, you would not only abstain from 
interference, but that you would give it safe con- 
duct, and use all your power individually, as well 
as of the forces of the United States under 
your command, for its protection; that the 
question as to the proper time of the resumption 
of specie payments sliould be left entirely to the 
Judgment and discretion of the banks themselves, 
with the understanding on your part and ours 
that the coin should be held in good faith for the 
protection of tlic bill-holders and depositors. On 
their part the batiks promised to act with scrupu- 
lous good faith to carry out their understanding 
with you ; that is. to restore a sound currency 
as soon as possible, and to provide for the re- 
sumption of regular business as soon as the exi- 
gencies of our trade require vk. You are aware 
that a large portion of the coin of the banks is 
beyond their control, and that we can only 
promise to use our best exertions for its return. 
Should we fail, we will immediately advise you 
of the fact In the mean time, wo request of 
you the favor to give us the authority to bring 
back the treasure within your lines, with the 
safe conduct of the same from that point to this 
city." 

The general gave the required permits, but the 
act was superfluous. 

Meratninger, the secretary of the rebel treas- 
ury, refused to give it up. *' The coin of the 
banks of New Orleans," he wrote, July 6th, 
" was seized by the government to prevent it 
falling into the hands of the public enemy. It 
has been deposited in a place of security, under 
charge of the government ; and it is not intended 
to interfere with tlie rights of property in the 
banks farther than to insure its safe custody. 
They may proceed to conduct their business in 



the Confederate States upon this deposit, just as 
though it were in their own vaults." 

The banks then endeavored to get both gov- 
ernments to consent to their sending the coin to 
Europe during the war; and General Butler 
rather favored the scheme, provided a European 
government would take it in charge. Tlie plan 
failed, however, to gain approval ; and the gen- 
eral consented to permit the banks to do business 
upon the basis of the absent coin, "just as 
though it was in their own vaalts." Unless he 
had done this, his whole scheme of reforming the 
currency must have failed. 

General Butler's first financial measure was to 
suppress the Confederate notes. At the begin- 
ning of the third week of the occupation of the 
city, the following general order appeared : — 

New Ouleans, May 16, 1862. 

" I. It is hereby ordered that neither the city 
of New Orleans, nor the banks thereof, exchange 
their notes, bills, or obligations for Confederate 
notes, bills, or bonds, nor issue any bill, note, or 
obligation payable in Confederate notes. 

"II. On the 27th day of May inst., all circu- 
lation of, or trade in, Confederate notes and bills 
will cease within this department ; and all sales 
or transfers of property made on or after that 
day, in consideration of such notes or bills, di- 
rectly or indirectly, will be void, and the property 
confiscated to the United States, one-fourth 
thereof to go to the informer." 

Great was the agitation in bank parties on the 
day this order was promulgated. At once the 
question arose. Who is to bear the loss, the 
banks or the public? The banks liiid no doubts 
upon the subject The newspapers of the next 
morning contained a long string of short adver- 
tisements, which agreeably diversified the usual 
uniformity of the advertising columns. The fol- 
lowing may serve as specimens : 

" All parties having deposits of Confederate 
notes with us are hereby notified to withdraw 
them prior to the 27th inst Such balances as 
may not be withdrawn will be considered at the 
risk of the owners, and held subject to their 
order." 

" JUDSON & Co., 
" Corner of Camp and Canal streets." 

" Banking Housk o7 Sam'i. Smith & Co., 
" Nkw Oklk^ns, Jfay 19, 1862. 

" All persons having deposited Confederate 
notes in this banking-house are notified to with- 
draw thein before the 27th inst. Such balances 
as may not then be withdrawn will bo consid- 
ered at the risk of the owners. 

"Sam'l Smith & Co." 

"Mkroiiants' Bank, 
"Nkw Orlkans, Jfn;/ 19, 1S62. 

" This bank is prepared to pay balances in 
Confederate notes, which must be drawn before 
the 27th inst 

" Wit. S. Mount, Cashier." 

The banks, therefore, were resolved to throw 
the entire mass of the Confederate currency upon 
the impoverished people. They had introduced 
that currency, grown rich upon it, received it at 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



Ill 



par; and now, when it was nearly worthless, I 
they designed to escape the entire loss of the de- 
preciation. Every one outside of the banks was 
in consternation. The people knew not what to ' 
do. If they withdrew their deposits, they would 
receive sundry pieces of valueless printed paper. 
If they did not, the deposits were " at their own 
risk" — a phrase of fearful import at such a time. 
"What rendered the course of the banks the more 
exasperating was the fact, that a great and 
wealtliy corporation, professing an entire faith in 
the ultimate triumph of the Confederacy, could 
afford to hold Confederate paper, while a poor 
trader in New Orleans would be ruined by the 
suspension of his little capita). 

The anger of General Butler was kindled. 
He, the " enemy," was striving night and day to 
save the people of New Orleans from starvation, 
and restore the business of the city to life. 
They, the fellow-citizens of those people, thought 
only of saving their ill-gotten wealth. In the 
course of the day upon which the bank adver- 
tisements appeared, he penned his famous Gen- 
eral Order, No. 30, which was published in the 
papers of the following morning : 

" New Orleans, May 19, 1862. 

"It is represented to the commanding general 
that great distress, privation, suffering, hunger, 
and even starvation has been brought upon the 
people of New Orleans and vicinage by the 
course taken by the bauks and dealers in cur- 
rency. 

"He has been urged to take measures to pro- 
vide, as far as may be, for the relief of the citi- 
zens, so that the loss may fall, in part, at least, 
on tliose who have caused and ought to bear it. 

" The general sees with regret tbat the banks 
and bankers causelessly suspended specie pay- 
ments iu September last, in contravention of the 
laws of the state and of the United States. 
Having done so, they introduced Confederate 
notes as currency, which they bought at a dis- 
count, in place of their own bills, receiving them 
on deposit, paying them out for their discounts, 
and collecting their customers' notes and drafts 
in them as money, sometimes even against their 
will, thus giving these notes credit and a wide 
general circulation, so that they were substituted 
in the hands of the middling men, the poor and 
unwary, as currency, in place of that provided 
by the constitution and laws of the country, or 
of any valuable equivalent. 

"The banks and bankers now endeavor to 
take advantage of the re-establishment of the 
authority of the United States here, to throw 
the depreciation and loss from this worthless 
fituflf of their creation and fostering upon then: 
creditors, depositors, and bill-holders. 

" They refuse to receive these bills while they 
pay them over their counters. 

" They require their depositors to take them. 

" They change the obligations of contracts by 
Btamping thoir bills, ' redeemable in Confederate 
notes.' 

" They have invested the savings of labor 
and the pittance of the widow in this paper. 

"They sent away or hid their specie, so that 
the people could have nothing but these notes, 
•which they now depreciate — with which to buy 
bread. 

" All other property has become nearly value- 



less from the calamities of this iniquitous and 
unjust war begun by rebollious guns, turned on 
the flag of our prosperous and happy country 
floating over Fort Sumter. Saved from the 
general rula by the system of financiering, bank 
stocks alone are now selling at great premiums 
in the market, while the stockholders have re- 
ceived large dividends. 

" To equalize, as far as may be, this general 
loss ; to have it fall, at least in part, where it 
ought to lie ; to enable the people of this city 
and vicinage to have a currency which shall at 
least be a semblance to that which the wisdom 
of the constitution provides for all citizens of 
the United States, it is therefore 

" Ordered: 1. That the several incorporated 
banks pay out no more Confederate notes to 
their depositors or creditors, but that all deposits 
be paid in the bills of the bank. United States 
treasury notes, gold or silver. 

" II. That all private bankers, receiving de- 
posits, pay out to their depositors only the cur- 
rent bills of city banks, or United States treasury 
notes, gold or silver. 

" III. That the savings banks pay to their 
depositors or creditors only gold, silver, or 
United States treasury notes, current bills of 
city banks, or their own bills, to an amount not 
exceeding one-third of their deposits and of de- 
nomination not less than one dollar, which they 
are authorized to issue and for the redemption 
of which their assets shall be held liable. 

"IV. The incorporated banks are authorized 
to issue bills of a less denomination than five 
dollars, but not less than one dollar, anything in 
their charters to the contrary notwithstanding, 
and are authorized to receive Confederate notes 
for any of their bills until the 27th day of May 
instant. 

" V. That all persons and firms having issued 
small notes or 'shinplasters,' so called, are re- 
quired to redeem them on presentation at their 
places of business, between the hours of 9 A. M. 
and 3 p. M., either in gold, silver, United States 
treasury notes, or current bills of city banks, 
under penalty of confiscation of their property 
and sale thereof, for the purpose of redemption 
of the notes so Issued, or imprisonment for a 
term of hard labor. 

" VI. Private bankers may issue notes of de- 
nominations not less than one nor more than ten 
dollars, to two-thirds of the amount of specie 
which they show to a commissioner appointed 
from these head-quarters, in their vaults, actually 
kept there for the purpose of redemption of such 
notes." 

So the game of the banks was " blocked." The 
relief afforded to the people by the publication 
of this order was such, that, as a secessionist 
remarked to one of the general's staff, it was 
equivalent to a reinforcement of twenty thousand 
men to the Union army. Union men In New 
Orleans say, that nothing but the continual bad 
news from General McClellan's army in the pe- 
ninsula prevented this measure from causing an 
open and general manifestation of Union feeling 
among the respectable traders of the city. But 
the impression could not be removed from 
the minds of the people, while such Intelligence 
kept coming, that the stay of the army would 
be but short; and every man feared to commit 



112 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



himself to a course that would invite the ven- 
geance of the returning Confcduratcs. 

All tho banks submitted, in silence, except 
one — the Bank of Louisiana. I think I must 
afford space for tho following curious correspon- 
dence that passed between that iustituUou and 
General Butler : 

THE BANK TO GENERAL BUTLER. 

"No. 148 Canal Stkeet, May 21, 1862. 

" Sir : — The Board of Directors of the Bank 
of Louisiana held a special meeting this morning, 
in order to take into consideration your Order 
No. 30. The meeting was full, with the excep- 
tion of a single member ; for all were impressed 
with the gravity ot the question about to be sub- 
mitted. 

" The result of their deliberation was the 
the adoption of certain resolutions, which I have 
now the honor to submit to you. 

" At the same time I was instructed to make 
a few observations in explanation of their course, 
and especially to disclaim and disavow the justice 
of any imputation affecting their rectitude, in- 
tegrity or honor. As a proof of their confidence 
in their disinterestedness, they invite the most 
searching examination of all their books, includ- 
ing the minutes of their proceedings, and of every 
act of their administration, even their private 
accounts with the bank, by any competent per- 
son whom you may select for that purpose; 
and they are willing to abide the result, either 
as officials or as individuals, 

" In the discharge of tlieir difficult and delicate 
duties, knowing and feeUng that their intentions 
were pure and upright, they have an abiding 
confidence of their exculpation from the influence 
of all sordid or selfish motives. 

"If required, I will wait on you and afford 
every explanation in my power. 

'■ I liave the honor, &c.. &c., 
" W. Xkwton Merger, President pro tern. 

" Major-General Butler, U. S. A., &c. 

" Note. — Of the capital stock of the bank — 
28,000 shares — tho directors own about one- 
tenth. To the bank thej'- owe nothing." 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE DIRECTORS. 

" Bank of Louisiana, May 21, 1862. 

" As this bank is unable to comply with the 
conditions, and act under tho restrictions imposed 
upon it by Order No. 30, issued by General 
Butler, and as imputations have been cast upon 
the conduct and characters of its directors, 

" Therefore, Resolved, unanimously. That Gen- 
oral Butler be invited to appoint some competent 
person, in whom he has confidence, to examine 
thoroughly the condition of tliis bank since its 
suspension of specie payments, as well as the 
action of its directors since the 1st day of Sep- 
tember last. 

"That the cashier bo instructed to give to 
General Butler's agent, if one be appointed, 
every facility for such an examination of all its 
books, papers, vaults, desks and drawers, and to 
afford him every inlbrmation touching the ad- 
ministration of this bank during the period 
already mentioned, together with an inspection 
of the private accounts of tho directors. 



" That, in the meantime, till General Butler's 
final determination be ascertained, the opera- 
tions of the bank must necessarily be suspended, 
as it has in its possession none of its own issue 
and only a very small amount of coin. 

"I certify that the action above mentioned 
was held this morning by the Bank of Louisiana. 
" "W. Newton Mercer, President prv tern. 

"New Orleans, May 21, 18G2." 

GENERAL BUTLER TO THE BANK. 

" IlEAD-QtrARTERS, DkPAP.TMKNT OF THE GULP, 

" New Okleaks, J/uy 22, 1S62. 

" "W. Newton Mercer, Esq., President of the 

Bank of Louisiana : 

" Sir : — I have received your communication, 
covering the unanimous action of the directors 
of the Bank of Louisiana. To their request, that 
I would appoint a commission to examine the 
affairs of the bank, I can not accede. With the 
mismanagement or the contrary of tho bank, I 
have nothing to do, except so far as either 
affects the interest of the United States. 

" The assigned reason for the call for this ex- 
amination, that ' the integrity and good faith of 
the directors have been impugned,' will not 
move me, if it refer to General Order No. 30, 
which speaks of acts and facts, not motives. 

" Your note says, that the directors own but 
one-tenth of tho capital stock of the bank. 
Without consulting the owners of the other 
nine-tenths — nearly three millions of dollars — 
this one-tenth took this immense wealth from 
its legal place of deposit, and sent it fiying over 
the country in company witli fugitive property 
burners, among the masses of a disorganized, re- 
treating, and starving army, whence it is more 
than likely never to return again. Again; the 
time it would take to make an investigation, 
which would show the good management, to say 
nothing of the purity of motive of such a trans- 
action, can not bo spared by any officer of my 
command. Ex uno disce omnes. 

" The directors of the bank of Louisiana have 
all seen General Order No. 30, and have acted 
upon it as a corporation. So your note shows. 

" They will now advise themselves whether 
they will act in accordance with its requirements 
upon their corporate and individual peril, and 
inform me, within eix hours after the receipt of 
this, of their determination. 

" I have the honor to be, respectfully, your 
obedient servant, 

B. P. Butler." 

THE BANK TO GENERAL BUTLEB. 

" Bank op Lotisiana, 
"New Orleans, JAiy 22, 1868. 

" To Major-General B. F. Butler, 

Commanding Department of the Gulf: — 
" Sir : — I have received your communication 
of this day in answer to my letter accompanying 
the proceedings of the directors of this bank. 

"The board of directors were immediately 
summoned to a special meeting; and as you 
leave no alternative but compliance with your 
mandate, they will conform to Order No. 30. 
"Respectfully, your obedient servant, 
" W. Newton Mercer, Pres't ^ro tern." 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



113 



Confederate notes disappeared from circulation. 
Bank-notes and green-backs took their place. A 
few weeks later, the omnibus tickets and shin- 
plasters were replaced by small notes issued by- 
Governor Shepley and the city government. 
Thus, the currency of the city was completely 
restored. 

General Butler required from the banks a 
monthly report of their transactions and their 
condition. Two of them which he ascertained 
to bo hopelessly insolvent, ho ordered to be 
closed and to go into liquidation. Another, 
which was weak, he caused to be strengthened. 
His later intercourse with the officers of the 
banks was more amicable than at first. They 
were surprised to find that a major-general of 
volunteers was as much at home in their own 
province as if he had spent his life in a banking- 
house. 

An anecdote from the Delta will serve to show 
how the general's order secured the rights of ene- 
mies as well as friends : 

"Among the rebel prisoners taken the other 
day was an officer, whom we shall call Captain 
Johnson. He, before going to the war, had de- 
posited three liundred dollars in the Bank of 
Commerce. Upon his return to the city upon 
parole, he called at the bank to inquire about liis 
funds. After much fumbling, it was admitted 
that he had deposited the sum named. 
" ' Well,' said he, ' I want it.' 
* * " Thereupon he was reminded that he had 
made his deposit in Confederate notes. 

" ' Very true,' he replied, ' but at that time 
Confederate notes were current and valuable. ' 

" ' Oh,' muttered the banker, ' I must give it 
to you in the currency in which you deposited.' 
" ' But,' said the captain, ' Confederate notes 
are worthless now.' 

The banker was firm, and the Captain re- 
tired. He called the next day and renewed his 
demand for his money. He was told, as before, 
that he must take Confederate notes. 

■' ' i suppose I must,' observed the Confederate 
captain. 

" The banker paiised, and then inquired : ' But 
what can j-ou do with Confederate notes ? They 
are worthless here, and it is against the law to 
pass them. 

•" ' That's just what I have been telling you,' 
said the captain ; ' but since you will not give me 
anything else, T presume I had better take Con- 
federate notes.' 

" ' Yes, yeS; yes, yes,' nervously spluttered 
the banker; 'but wiiat can you do with Con- 
federate notes? 

"'Well,' replied Johnson, 'I will tell you 
squarely what I will do. I will take them to 
General Butler and try to get gold for them.' 

" Upon this, the banker counted out three hun- 
dred dollars in United States treasury notes, and 
Captain Johnson retired.' 

Some stern retributory measures remained to 
be enforced against the banks of Now Orleans. 
The following general order was issued early in 
June: 

New Oeleans, June 6, 1862. 
" Any person wno has in his possession, or 
subject to his control, any property of any kind 
or description whatever, of the so-called Confed- 



erate States, or who has secreted or concealed, 
or aided in the concealment of sucli property, 
who shall not, within three days from the pub- 
lication of this order, give full information of the 
same, in writing, at the head-quarters of the mili- 
tary commandant, in the Custom-House, to the 
assistant military commandant, Godfi'cy Weitzol, 
shall be liable to imprisonment and to have his 
property confiscated." 

This order, being interpreted, signified (among 
other things), that whatever sums of money might 
be standing upon the books of the banks in the 
name of the rebel government, were now the prop- 
erty of the United States ; which property the 
banks would please prepare to surrender. The 
order was promptly obeyed, 

A few days after. General Butler had the 
pleasure of sending to Mr. Chase the sum of 
$245,760, the amount of Confederate funds given 
up by the several banks. "This," remarked the 
general, "will make a fund upon which those 
whoso property has been confiscated may have 
claim." 

Another act of justice remained to be done by 
the banks and other dividend-paying corpora- 
tions of New Orleans. Witness the following 
order ; 

"New Orleans, July 9, 1862. 
" All dividends, interests, coupons, stock-certifi- 
cates, and accruing interest, due any or payable 
by any incorporated or joint-stock company, to 
any citizen of the United States ; and any notes, 
dues, claims, and account.'=i of any such citizen, 
due from any such company, or any private per- 
son or company within this department, which 
have heretofore been retained under any sup- 
posed order, authority, act of sequestration, gar- 
nishee process, or in any way emanating under 
the supposed Confederate States, or the state of 
Louisiana, since the fraudulent ordinance of 
secession, are hereby ordered to be paid and de- 
livered respectively to the lawful owners thereof, 
or their diJy authorized agents." 

This order restored to many citizens of the 
northern states a portion of their annual income 
which they had long ago given up as lost. Nor 
was this all. The mercantile debts were ex- 
tracted from such of the debtors as had not 
squandered all their property. The papers be- 
fore me show that there was an active business 
done, at this time, in compelling the payment of 
sums due to northern creditors. The ingenious 
devices of the repudiators to avoid or postpone 
the agony of disgorging, were numerous and 
sometimes successful. The usual issue of the 
struggle, however, was a short, sharp order from 
the general : Pay instanter, or be sold up I The 
individual, I observe, who repudiated a debt 
of .?20,000 to General Anderson, of Fort Sumter 
celebrity, was one of those upon whose property 
General Butler laid his retributive hand. 

Direct efforts were systematically made, during 
the whole period of General Butler's rule, to pro- 
mote Union feeling. Union clubs were en- 
couraged. "The Union Ladies' Association" for 
clothing the children of volunteers, \vM fn^queut 
meetings. The fourth of July was colebrated 



114 



EFFORTS TOWARD RESTORATION. 



with all possible eclat. There wore numerous 
Ilacf-raisings. Union meetings wcro often held, 
addres-sed by the orators both of the army and 
of the city. Tlio general caused to be cut deep 
into tlio granite baso of the statue of General 
Jackson, the motto originally designed to adoru 
it: 

" TuE Uniox — IT Must and Silvll be Pre- 
served." 

Much good was done by these efforts. Seed 
was sown which might have borne glorious 
fruit when the success of the Union arms had 
given the Union men of the city an assurance of 
safety. 

New Orleans, during the administration of 
General Butler, possessed, for the first time in its 
history, a court of justice in which it was possible 
for justice to be done. A code of law which ex- 
cludes from the witness-box the very class who 
are the most likely to be tlio witnesses of crime, 
and against whom the greatest number of crimes 
!vro committed, banishes justice from the land in 
which it exists. One of Major Bell's tirst deci- 
sions in the provost court placed white men and 
black men upon an equality before the law. A 
hunker democrat did this glorious thing I A 
negro was calbd to the witness-stand. 

"I object," said the counsel for the prisoner; 
'• by the laws of Louisiana a negro can not testify 
against a white man." 

" Has Louisiana gone out of the Union ?" asked 
Major Bell, with that imperturbable gravity of 
his, that veils his keen sense of humor. 

" Yos," said the lawyer. 

" Well, then," said the judge, " she took her 
laws with her. Let the Man be Sworn!" 

Immortal words I From that moment dates 
the renovation of Louisiana 1 

Again. Henry Dominique, a free man of color, 
was arrested for not having free papers. The 
prisoner could only protest that he was a free 
man. The court decided, that every man must 
bo presumed to be free until the contrary was 
shown. Dominique was discharged. 

Major Bell's court was among the lions of the 
town. During a considerable part of General 
ButliT's stay, he administered all the justice that 
was done in New Orleans, according to the forms 
of a court. He decided all cases, from a street 
broil to (picstions of constitutional law, from 
petty larceny to high treason, from matrimonial 
squabbles to suits for divorce. He would dis- 
pose of lifieen cases in thirty minutes. An hour 
was a long trial. He was pestered, at first, with 
malicious suits, to avenge injuries committed be- 
fore tlie capture of the city — a kind of case that 
sometimes resulted in penalties to both parties ; 
ofiener in a prompt dismissal of botli from the 
court. Suits of the most frivolous character were 
brouglit before him. One morning, two women 
presented themselves, each to prefer a complaint 
against the other. 

'• Stand there," said he to one of them. " Stand 
there," to the other. " Now both speak at once, 
and talk for five minutes." 

Two torrents of vituperation poured from the 
two mouths. The judge kept his eye upon his 
watch, and at the end of tlie time, said : 

" Now, both of you go homo and behave your- 
selves." 



The women departed with evident satisfaction ; 
they had relieved their minds. 

Some of tlu^ cases demanded an intimate knowl- 
edge of local law. For example: Major Bell 
observed a colored woman hanging about his 
office for several successive days, in evident dis- 
tress of mind, lie asked her, one day, what she 
wanted. She said that all her gooJs had been 
seized by her landlord for rent, though she had 
paid the rent and had his receipt. It was another 
tenant of the same house, she said, who was de- 
linquent, and had moved away in the night, 
leaving her goods liable to seizure. The land- 
lord being summoned, admitted the truth of tho 
woman's stor}', and pointed out the old statute 
which gave landlords the right to seize any prop)- 
erty in his house for unpaid rent. Major Bell 
read this astonishing statute, and was compelled 
to admit that the landlord had llie law on his side. 
He remonstrated with him, however, and pointed 
out the cruel injustice which he had committed 
iu seizing the property of an honest woman. 
The man was surly, and said that all he wanted 
was the law. The law gave him the goods and 
he meant to keep them. Major Bell was posed. 
He scratched his wise-looking head. Suddenly, 
he had an idea. 

"Are you a free woman?" he asked the com- 
plainant. 

"No," said she, "I belong to ." 

"Sir," said the judge to the landlord, "another 
statute requires the written consent of the owner 
before a tenement can be let to a slave. Pro- 
duce it." 

The man had forgotten this statute. He could 
not produce the document. 

" Take your choice," said Major Bell ; "either 
^ve back the woman's property or pay the 
fine." 

The man preferred to restore the goods, and 
the poor washerwoman was saved from ruin. 

"Master," said she, with the eloquence of 
perfect gratitude, " if you get the yellow fe- 
ver, send for me, and I'll come and take care of 
you." 

A government needs a government organ. 
During the month of May, several of the news- 
papers of New Orleans were suspended by or- 
ders from head-quarters. They published the 
most extravagant rumors of federal disasters, 
and closed their columns against the true intelli- 
gence. Their comments hovered upon the verge 
of treason, and, not unfrequeutly, passed beyond 
the verge. A sudden order to suspend would 
bring them to a sense of the anomalous situa- 
tion ; they would promise submission ; and were 
generally allowed to resume publication in a day 
or two. 

One of these newspapers, the Delta, noted for 
the virulence of its treason, was otherwise 
treated. The oflBce was seized, and permanently 
held. Two officers, experienced in the conduct 
of newspapers. Captain John Clark, of Boston, 
and Lieutenant-Colonel E. M. Brown, of tlie 
Eighth Vermont, were detailed to edit tho paper 
in tho interest of tho United States. The first 
number of the regenerated Delta appeared oa 
the 24th of May, 18G2, and it continued under 
tho same direction until the 8th of February, 
1863. It was conducted with very great ability 
and spirit. Besides tho labor of the editors, it 
had the advantage of occasional contributions 



EFFECT OF THE FAILURE IN VIRGINIA. 



115 



from Miijor Bell and oUier officers; the com- 
uianding general liimsclF frequently giving it the 
aid of ilia suggestions. Several ladies of New 
Orleans coniributed. One of them, Mrs. Taylor, 
who adopted the signature of "Nellie," wrote 
many lively satirical sketclies, which greatly 
amused the readers of the paper, besides calling 
forth the exerlions of other ladies of similar 
character. In one feature the Delta dificred 
strikingly from the ordinary newspapers of the 
South. Your true southerner, your " original 
secessionist," is a very serious personage. Vanity 
of the iutenser sort is a serious tbible ; proud ig- 
norance is serious ; cruelty is serious ; one-idea 
is serious. There is no joke in your true south- 
erner ; and as a consequence, his newspaper is 
generally a grave and heavy thing, enlivened 
only by vituperation and ferocity. The sport- 
impulse comes of an excess of strength. The 
man of true humor is so much the master of his 
subject that he can play with it, as the strong 
man of the circus plays with cannon-balls. The 
regenerated Ddta was one of tlie most humor- 
ous of newspapers. Almost every issue liad its 
good joke, and a great many of its jocular para- 
graphs were exceedingly happy hits. 

Allusion has been made to the secession songs 
and secession sentiments taught to the children 
of the public schools. The schools were dis- 
missed for the summer vacation two weeks 
earlier than usual, and during the interval the 
school system was reorganized on the model of 
that of Boston. A bureau of education and a 
superintendent of public schools were appointed 
— good Union men all. The old teachers were 
dismissed, and a corps, true to their country, 
selected in their stead. School-books tainted 
with treason and pro-slavery were banished, 
and were replaced by such as are used in 
Northern schools — Union song-books not being 
forgotten. The new sj'stem worked well, and 
continues to this day to difluse sound knowledge 
and correct sentiments among the people of New 
Orleans. 

Such were some of the measures of the com- 
manding general, designed to restore Louisiana 
to a degree of its former prosperity and good 
feeling. Tliey were as successful as the circum- 
stances of tlie time permitted. The levee showed 
some signs of commercial activity. The money 
distributed by the army gave lite to the retail 
trade. The poorer classes were won back to a 
love for the power which protected and sus- 
tained them. The original secessionists were, 
are, and will ever be, there and everywhere, the 
bitter toes of the United States; l>ut, among 
those who had reluctantly accepted secession 
because they supposed it inevitable, the general 
and the Union gained hosts of friends, who re- 
main to this day, in spite of much discourage- 
ment, loyal to the government. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE EFFECT IN NEW ORLEANS OP OUR LOSSES 
IN VIRGINIA. 

The Union army in the Department of the 
Gulf consisted of about fourteen thousand men, 
and the disa-sters in Virginia, which increased a 



I hundred-fold the difQculty of holding New Or- 
leans, forbade the re-enforcement of that army. 
Ship Island, Fort Jackson, Fort St. Philip, Baton 
Rouge, ports upon the lakes and elsewhere, re- 
quired strong garrisons, which reduced llie effec- 
tive nieu in and near the city to a number in- 
adequate to a successful defense of the place 
against sucli an attack as might be expected. 
General Butler was perfectly aware that the re- 
covery of the city was an object which tlie rebels 
liad distinctly proposed to themselves. It was 
the real aim of all that series of movements of 
which the attack upon Baton Rouge, by Breck- 
inridge, was the most conspicuous. The gen- 
eral's excellent ^w system brought him this in- 
formation, and most of his own measures were 
more or less influenced by it. 

One powerful iron-clad ram could have cleared 
the river in an hour of the Union fleet. That 
done, the city might have fallen before the well- 
concerted attack of a force such as the rebels 
were known to be able to assemble. They could 
not have held the city long; but tliey might 
have taken it, and held it long enougli to do in- 
finite mischief; or they might have necessitated 
its destruction. 

The temper of the secessionists in New Orleans 
was the worst possible. Liars are generally 
credulous, at least they are easily made to be- 
lieve lies, though tliey find it so difficult to re- 
ceive the truth. The news from Virginia would 
have sufficed to neutralize, for a time, the gene- 
ral's best measures, even if it had come without 
exaggerations. But news from Virginia uni- 
formly came first through rebel sources by tele- 
graph, while the truth arrived only after a long 
sea voyage. To show the eflect of this inflam- 
matory intelligence, take one incident as related 
by an officer of General Butlers staff': 

" As a result of this continuous report of na- 
tional defeats before Richmond, St. Charles 
street, near the hotel, was yesterday (July lOih) 
the scene of violence and threatening trouble. 
A young woman dressed in white and of hand- 
some personal appearance, about 10 o'clock, 
passed by the hotel, wearing a secession badge. 
She finally insulted one of our soldiers, and was 
arrested by a policeman, who attempted to tako 
her to the mayor's office. As a matter of course, 
there was instantly a scene of confusion, as slie 
had selected the time when she would find tlie 
most obnoxious secessionists parading the vi- 
cinity. Upon reaching the building next to the 
Bank of New^ Orleans, she theatrically appealed 
to the crowd for protection, and the next mo- 
ment the policeman was knocked down, and a 
shot was fired out of the store, and wounded the 
soldier assisting the civil officer. Thereupon a 
hundred persons, returned soldiers of Beaure- 
gard's army, cried murder, and one of the na- 
tional officers at the same moment fired at the 
assassin who wounded the soldier. In the con- 
fusion the murderers escaped, but the woman, 
together with some of her most prominent sym- 
pathizers, were conveyed before General Shepley 
at the City Hall. Upon being brought into the 
presence of General Shepley, she commenced the 
utterance of threats and abuse, and, further, 
took out of her bosom innumerable bits of paper, 
on which were written insulting epithets, ad- 
dressed to the United Slates authorities, and on© 
by one thrust them into General Shepley 's hand. 



116 



EFFECT OF THE FAILURE IN VIRGINIA. 



After sonio lew qucstioDS she waa put into a car- 
riage and conveyed to General Butler's head- 
quarters, where she was recognized as the mis- 
tress of a gambler and murderer, now, by Gene- 
ral Butler's orders, confined at Fort Jackson, 
but nominally passing as the wife of one John 
11. Larue." 

There was every reason to beheve that this 
was a concerted scene between the woman and 
the crowd. General Butler sent for her hus- 
band, who, on being asked his occupation, re- 
plied, that he " played cards for a living." The 
general di.sposed of the case thus : 

"John II. Larue, being by his own confession 
a vagrant, a person without visible means of 
support, and one who gets his living by playing 
cards, is committed to the parish prison until 
farther orders. Anna Larue, his wife, having 
been found in the public streets, wearing a Con- 
federate flag upon her person, in order to incite 
a riot, which act has already resulted in a 
breach of the peace, and danger to the life of a 
soldier of the United States, is sent to Ship 
Island till farther orders. She is to be kept sep- 
arate and apart from the other women confined 
there." 

The hideous events attending the funeral of 
Lieutenant De Kay, of General Williams's staft" 
showed the true quality of the " original seces- 
sionists;" showed, at once, their cowardice, their 
meanness, and tlicir ferocity ; and proved the 
necessity for those strong measures by which the 
secessionists of the city were deprived of their 
power to co-operate with their friends beyond the 
Union lines. 

Lieutenant De Kay, summoned from his 
studies in Europe by the peril of his country, 
was on board a gun-boat descending the Missis- 
sippi, when it was fired into by guerillas. He 
received twelve buck shots in his body. He 
lingered a month in New Orleans, enduring his 
suflerings with heroic cheerfulness, content to 
die for his country, lie expired on the 27 th of 
June, mourned by the whole arnij'. General 
Butler was at Baton Rouge on the day of the 
funeral, and his absence emboldened the baser | 
rebcLs, who seized the opportunity to insult the ' 
funeral cortege with laughter and opprobrious 
outcries. Women again appeared in the streets | 
wearing Confederate colors. The notorious Mrs. 
Philips, formerly a member of Mr. Buchanan's 
boudoir cabinet, banished from Washington as an ; 
ally of traitors, saluted the procession with osten- [ 
tatious laughter from the balcony of her house. | 
Many otlier women took pains to exhibit their j 
exultation. A bookseller placed in the window j 
of his store a skeleton labeled " Chickahominy." i 
Another miscreant exhibited, in a club-room and 
elsewhere, a cross which he said was made of a 
Yankee's bono. When the procession arrived at 
the church, the galleries were found filled with 
a rabble of filihy scoundrels, the " dregs of the 
city," whose demeanor was in keeping with that 
of their instigators out-of-doors. No minister 
appeared to conduct the last ceremonies. Dr. 
Leacock, the pastor of the church, a weak, 
vacillating man, had promised to officiate, but 
had been induced to break his promise by the 
persuasions of members of his church : and other 
arrangements for the ceremony had to be hastily 
made amid the sneers and exultation of the crowd. 

The scenes of that allernoon wu'e so profound- 



ly disgusting, so exasperating to the long-suffer- 
ing troops, that, probably, no other body of men 
ever assembled in arms would have had the self- 
control to bear them in silence.* They did bear 
them in silence. Not a resentful worcl, still less 
a resentful act escaped them. It probably oc- 
curred to most of the troops that General Butler 
was expected home on the following day ; and 
to him they knew they could safely commit the 
vindication of outraged decency. 

The general, meanwhile, had been enjoying a 

pleasant excursion up the river, and was return- 

t ing well pleased with what he had seen and 

heard at the capital of the state. 
I Mrs. Philips, and the exhibitors of the skeleton 
j and the cross, were brought before him. The 
j manner in which he disposed of their ca.<^es can 
best be shown by presenting three special orders, 
! issued on the day after his retnrn. 

" New Orleans, June 30, 1852. 

" Mrs. Philips, wife of Philip Philips, having 
been once imprisoned for her traitorous procliv- 
ities and acts at Washington, and released by 
the clemency of the government, and having 
been found training her children to spit upon offi- 
cers of the United States at New Orleans for which 
act of one of those children both her husband 
and herself apologized and were again forgiven, 
is now found on the balcony of her house during 
the passage of the funeral procession of Lieuten- 
ant De Kay, laughing and mocking at his re- 
mains ; and, upon being inquired of by the com- 
manding general if this fact were so, contempt- 
uously replies, ' I was in good spirits that day.' 

^^ It is, therefore, ordered. That she be not re- 
garded and treated as a common woman of 
whom no officer or soldier is bound to take no- 
tice, but as an uncommon, bad, and dangerous 
woman, stirring up strife and inciting to riot. 

" And that, therefore, she be confined at Ship 
Island, in the state of Mississippi, within proper 
limits there, till farther orders ; and that she be 
allowed one female servant and no more if she 
so choose. That one of the houses for hospital 

* The following, from tho pen of Lieutenant (now 
General) Godfrey Weitzel, appeared in the Delta tho 
next morning. 

To THE Editor of the Delta. — This afternoon the 
funeral of Do Kay was held. Ayoungofficerof tl»o United 
State.s army was liuricd. who, in every respect, was the 
poor of any youns man in the South. We who knew, 
loved anil ailniired him. Ho w;i8 fat.iUy wounded a 
month ago while defending a cause in wliii'li he took the 
sword as honestly, with as high toned feelings of duty, 
as any man now fighting for the South. Ho loft his 
studies in Europe to espouse this cause, because ho hon- 
estly and sincerely holievod it to be his duty. lie was 
wounded but how? From behinil a bush, with buck- 
shot firod fiom a gun, probably by a man who would 
not have dared to meet him openly.' Ho lingers a mouth. 
Not a word of comjilaint or rei»roach i)assed his lip. Al- 
w.iys happy and cheerful even unto his last moment. 
We requested yestorday the use of a house of God, in 
which to show to his mortal remains our respect. It is 
granted, but how? After moving throutrh collections 
of street cars, crowded with ladies wearing secession 
badges, and passively smiling and cheerful crowds stu- 
diously collected to insult the dead, we arrived at tho 
house of the Lord. Wo find it thrown open like a sta- 
ble, as if by n)ilitary compulsion. AVe enter, and find 
the t'alleries and other prominent places occupied by a 
rabble and negroes — a collection such as never defiled a 
church before. 

"Gentlemen and ladies of New Orleans and of the 
South, there was no chivalry in this. 

"G. Weit/.el, Lieutenant U. S. Engineers. 

" Nkw OitLKANS, June 28, ISO'2. 



EFFECT OF THE FAILURE IN VIRGINIA. 



117 



yiiirposes be assigned her as quarters; and a 
^!nldicI■'s ration each day be served ont to her, 
with the means of cooking the same ; and that 
no'verbal or written communication be allowed 
with her except through this office ; and that she 
be kept in close confinement until removed to 
Ship Island." 

New Orleans, June 80, 1862. 

"Fidel Keller has been found exhibiting a hu- 
man skeleton in his book-store window, in a pub- 
lic place in this city, labelled ' Chickahomiiiy,' in 
large letters, meaning and intending that the 
bones should be taken by the populace to be the 
bones of a United States soldier slain in that 
battle, in order to bring the authority of the 
United States and our army into contempt, and 
lor that purpose had stated to the passers-by that 
the boues were those of a Yankee soldier ; 
whereas, in truth and fact, they were the bones 
-purchased some weeks before of the Mexican 
consul, to whom they were pledged by a medical 
student. 

" It is, therefore, ordered, That for this descra- 
tion of the dead, he be confined at Ship Island 
for two years at hard labor, and that he be al- 
lowed to communicate with no person on the 
island except Mrs. Philips, who has been sent 
tliere for a like offense. Any written message 
may be sent by him through these head-quarters. 

" Upon this order being read to him, the said 
Keller requested that so much of it as associated 
him with ' that woman ' might be recalled, which 
request was therefore reduced to writing by him 
as follows : 

" New Orleans, Jinie 30, 1862. 

" ' Mr. Keller desires that that part of the sen- 
which refers to the communication with Mrs. 
Philips be stricken out, as he does not wish to 
have communication with said Mrs. Philips. 

" ' F. Keller. 

" ' Witness, D. Waters.' 

"Said request seeming to the commanding 
general reasonable, so much of said order is re- 
voked, and the remainder will be executed."* 

" New Orleans, June SO, 1S62. 

" John W. Andrews exhibited a cross, the em- 
blem of the suffering of our blessed Saviour, 
fashioned lor a personal ornametit, which he said 
was made from the bones of a Yankee soldier, 
and having shown this too, without rebuke, in 
the Louisiana Club, which claims to be com- 
posed of chivalrio gentlemen, 

" It is, therefore, ordered. That for this dese- 
cration of the dead, he be confined at hard labor 
for two years on the fortifications of Ship Island, 
and that he be allowed no verbal or written com- 
munication to or with any one, except through 
these head-quarters." 

Mrs. Philips, I may add, was released after 
several weeks detention. She went to Mobile, 

* The explan.-iUon of Keller's cuiinus request is this : 
There was iinother Mrs. Pliilipii in New Orleans, noto- 
rious as a keeper of a house of ill-fame. The prisoner 
having only heard of this Mrs. Pliilips, had the decency 
to desire to he kept apart from her, fearing, as he said, 
the effect upon the feelings of his wife if ho should be 
iissociated with such a woman. The general was not 
ttware of the cause of his scruples at the time. 



where she received an ovation from the leaders 
of society, and was the subject of laudatory par- 
agraphs in the nevi'spapers. She had the grace, 
however, to deny having intended to insult the 
remains of Lieutenant De Kay. She said that 
she really was in high spirits that day, and that 
her ill-timed merriment was not provoked by 
the passage of the funeral procession. 

A trifling circumstance, of a ludicrous nature, 
may serve to show something of the disposition 
of the people — just as we learn the feelings of a 
family from the prattle of the children. Among 
a batch of captured letters was found one from a 
certain Edward Wright, a resident of New Or- 
leans, to a lady in Secessia, full of the most 
ridiculous lies. He told his correspondent that 
the Yankee oflScers were the most craven 
creatures on earth. One of them, he said, had 
insulted a lady in the streets, which Wright per- 
ceiving, he had slapped the officer's face and 
kicked him, and then offered to meet him in the 
field ; but the officer gave some " rigmarole ex- 
cuse" and declined. For this, he continued, he 
was taken before Picayune Buller, and came 
near being sent to Fort .Jackson. 

General Butler caused the writer of this epistle 
to be brought before him, when the following 
conversation occurred between them : 

" What is your name ?" 

" Edward Wright." 

" Have I ever had the pleasure of seeing you 
before ?" 

" Not that I know of." 

" Have you ever been before an oflScer of the 
United States charged with any offense ?" 

" No, sir." 

" Have you ever had any difficulty or misun- 
derstanding with an officer of the United States 
in the streets or elsewhere ?" 

"Never, sir." 

" Have you any complaint to make of the con- 
duct of any of my officers or men ?" 

"None, sir." 

" Have you ever observed any misconduct on 
their part, since we arrived in the citj' ?" 

" Never, sir." 

The general now produced the letter, and 
handed it to the prisoner. 

"Did you write that letter?" 

" It looks like my handwriting." 

" Did you write the letter ?'' 

" Yes ; I wrote it." 

" Is not the story of your slapping and kicking 
the officer, an unmitigated and malicious lie, de- 
signed to bring the army of the United States 
into contempt?" 

" Well, sir, it isn't true, I admit." 

The general then dictated a sentence like this, 
which was written at the bottom of the letter : 
"I, Edward Wright, acknowledge that this 
letter is basely and abominably false, and that I 
wrote it for the purpose of bringing the army of 
the United States into contempt." 

" Sign that, sir." 

"I won't. I am a British subject, and claim 
the protection of the British consul." 

" Sign it, sir." 

" General Butler, you may put every ball of 
that pistol through my brain, but I will never 
sign that paper." 

"Captain Davis, make out an order to the 
provost-marshal, to hang this man at daybreak 



118 



EFFECT OF THE FAILURE IN VIRGINIA. 



to-morrow. In the meantime, let liim bave any 
priest he chooses to send for. Genllomeu, I am 
going to dinner." 

Betbre tlie general liad reached his quarters, 
an orderly came running up. 

" General, lie lias signed." 

" Well, keep liim in llie guard-house all night, 
and let him go in the morning." 

A conspiracy to assassinate general Butler was 
detected early in June. Tlio proofs were sufficient 
to warrant the arrest of lour abandoned cliar- 
actera. Tlie general, content with tlie discovery 
and frustation of the plot, forbore to prosecute 
the men, and agreed to pardon the ringleader 
on condition of liis leaving the city. Tlie general 
did tliis iti compliance with the entreaties of his 
aged fatiier, wlio iiad fought under General 
Jackson, in the war of 1812, and had remained 
true to his country. 

Tliese incidents may suffice to show the dis- 
position of the secessionists of Nl'W Orleans, 
inflamed by the news from Virginia, increased 
in number by the partial dissolution of Beaure- 
gard's army and encouraged to expect an at- 
tempt to drive the Union army from the soil of 
Louisiana. 

Ilenco the justification of those measures, 
about to be related, which reduced the secession 
party in New Orleans to a state of "subjugation," 
the most complete. Before entering upon tliose 
measures, it will be proper to show that not the 
rebels only felt the weiglit of General Butler's 
iron hand. Offenses committed by adherents of 
the Union against the people of the city, were 
visited witli punishment as prompt and rigorous 
as any winch were perpetrated against the 
country and the flag. 

It was in connection with the searches for 
concealed properly of the Confederate govern- 
ment, under the general order of June 6lh, that 
the tragical events occurred to which I allude, 
and which were among tlio most notable of 
General Butler's administration. No one was 
allowed to enter a house for the purpose of 
searching, without a written order from General 
Butler, General Shepley, or Colonel French. 
Por several days the searches proceeded quietly 
enougli, without e.xciliiig remark. But about 
the middle of Juno, complaints came pouring 
into iiead-quarters of parties entering houses for 
the ostensible purpose of searching for Confed- 
erate arms, who carried off valuable private pro- 
perty, such as money and jewels. The detection 
of these villains was remarkably prompt. 

On the 12th of June, at noon, a complaint was 
brought to General Butler of a most audacious 
and flagrant outrage of this kind. A cab drove 
up to a house in Toulouse street, from which 
issued two men, who entered tlie house and pre- 
sented to the inmates an order to search for 
arms, signed, apparently, by General Butler. 
Two men remained in the cab while the search 
proceeded. The two who entered the house, 
and rummaged its closets and drawers, behaved 
to the family willi great politeness, expressing 
their regret at having been ordered upon so un- 
pleasant a duty, and declaring their desire to 
perlbrm that duty with as little inconvenience to 
the inmates as possible. Upon retiring, they 
were so good as to leave a certificate to this 
efifect : 

" J. "William Henry, First-Lieutenant of the 



Eighteenth Massachusetts volunteers, has search- 
ed the premises No. 93 Toulouse street, and 
find, to the best of my judgment, that all the 
people who live there are loyal. Please examine 
no more. " J. William Henry," 

" After the departure of these urbane and con- 
siderate gentlemen, the lady of the house found 
that they had carried with them eigiiteen hun- 
dred and eighty dollars, a gold watch, and a 
breastpin. Another sum of over eight thousand 
dollars they liad overlooked. 

There was but one clue to the discovery of 
these men. They had ridden to tlio house in 
cab No. 50, which had remained before the 
door during the search, and in which the search- 
ers had departed. The driver of cab No. 50, 
who was immediately brought before the general, 
was required to relate tlio history of his doings 
during the previous night. In the course of the 
afternoon, the coffee-house to which he had last 
conveyed his passengers, was surrounded, and 
every man in it was brought betbre the general. 
There were four of them. General Butler never 
forgets a face that he has once seen. After 
looking at the men a moment, he asked one of 
them : 

" Where have I seen you?" 

"In Boston." 

" Where in Boston ?" 

"In the Municipal Court." 

" For what olfense were you tried before thai 
court ?" 

"Burglar}'." 

" Did you join any regiment?" 

"Yes." 

"Which?" 

" The Thirtieth Massachusetts." 

" Why are you not with your regiment?" 

" I was discharged." 

"What for?" 

" Disease." 

" Well, you ought to be hanged any how, for 
you have robbed before, and been convicted. 

" Don't do it, general, and I'll tell you all 
about it." 

"Well, make a clean breast of it, then." 

The man confessed. He said that he was one 
of an organized gang, who had been entering 
houses for several nights and plundering. The 
particular offense committed in Toulouse street 
was brought home, on the spot, to two others of 
the arrested men, who confessed their guilt. A 
considerable part of the stolen moni-y was re- 
covered and restored. Three more of the gang 
were arrested by Colonel Stafford's detectives on 
the following day. General Butler disposed of 
these flagrant cases by ordering four of the ring- 
leaders to be executed, and sentencing the others 
to imprisonment. 

The crime was committed on the lltli, detected 
on the 12th, two of the criminals were tried on 
the 13th, two more on the 15lh, and the whole 
ordered to be executed on the 16th. The man 
whose confession led to the conviction of the 
offenders was seiitoncod to Ave years' imprison- 
ment at hard labor. Two or three other less 
guilty participants were sentenced to six months 
at Ship Islanl with ball and chain. 

Those who observed the mingled nonchalance 
and severity of General Butler's deiUL'anor during 
those four days, may naturally have concluded 



THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 



119 



that it cost him no great exertion of will to hung 
these criminals. lu reality, it caused him tlie 
severest internal conflict of iiis whole life. During 
the excitement of the detection and trial, there 
was indeed, no room for any emotion but dis- 
gust at the crime and exultation at his success 
in discovering tlie perpetrators. It was far dif- 
ferent on the Sunday preceding the day of exe- 
cution, when the men lay at his mercy in prison, 
when the wives of two of them came imploring 
for mercy, when the distant families of the other 
two were brought to his knowledge, and when 
the softer hearted of his own military family 
pleaded for a commutation of the sentence. Mrs. 
Butler was at the North for the summer. Alone 
that night, the general paced his room, consider- 
ing and reconsidering tlie case. He could not 
find a door of escape for these men. He had 
executed a citizen of New Orleans for an offense 
against the flag of his country ; how could he 
pardon a crime committed b}' Union men against 
the citizens of New Orleans, a crime involving 
several distinct offenses of the deepest dye ? 
His duty was clear, but he could not sleep. He 
paced his room till the dawn of day. 

The men were executed in the morning; all 
but one of them confessing their guilt. To one 
of the families thus left destitute, the general gave 
a sewing-machine, by which they were enabled 
to earn a subsistence. 

The effect of this prompt and rigorous justice 
was most salutary upon the minds of both parties 
in New Orleans ; and its effect would have been 
as manifest as it was real, but for the disturbing 
influence of the terrible tidings from Virginia; 
in the presence of which the wisdom of an arch- 
angel would have failed to give confidence to the 
loyal people of Louisiana, or win to the Union 
cause any considerable number of the party for 
secession. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 

"We may now proceed to consider the iron- 
handed measures of the commanding general, 
which were designed to isolate the secessionists 
and render them innoxious. 

Crowds were forbidden to assemble, and pub- 
lic meetings, unless expressly autliorized. The 
police were ordered to disperse all street- 
gatherings of a greater number of persons than 
tiiree. 

In the sixth week of the occupation of the 
city, General Butler began tlie long series of 
measures, by which the sheep were separated 
from the goals; by which the attitude of every 
inhabitant of New Orleans toward the govern- 
ment of the United States was ascertained and 
recorded. The people might be politically divi- 
ded thus: Union men; rebels; foreigners friend' 
ly to the United States ; foreigners sympathizing 
with the Confederates; soldiers from Beauregard's 
army inclined to submission ; soldiers from Beau- 
regard's army not inclined to submission. These 
soldiers, who numbered several thousands, were 
required to come forward and define their position, 
and either take the oath of allegiance, or surrender 
themselves prisoners of war ; in which latter 



case, they would be admitted to parole until 
regularly exchanged, or if they preferred it, re- 
main in confinement. In this way, the name 
standing, residence, and political sympathies of 
this concourse of men were placed on record, and 
the general was enabled to know where they 
were to l)e found, and what he had to expect 
from them in time of danger. 

His next step was to decree, that no authority 
of any kind .should be exercised in New Orleans 
by traitors, and that no favors should be granted 
to traitors by the United States, except the 
mere protection from personal violence secured 
by the police. The following general order was 
designed to secure these objects : 

" New Orlkans, June 10, 1862. 
" General Order No. 41. 

"The constitution and laws of the United 
States require that all military, civil, judicial, 
executive and legislative officers of the United 
States, and of the several states, shall take an 
oath to support the constitution and laws. If a 
person desires to serve the United States, or to 
receive special profit from a protection from the 
United States, he should take upon himself the 
corresponding obligations. This oath will not 
be, as it has never been, forced upon any. It is 
too sacred an obligation, too exalted in its 
tenure, and brings with it too many benefits and 
privileges, to be profaned by unwilling lip ser- 
vice. It enables its recipient to say, ' I am an 
American citizen,' the highest title known, save 
that of him who can say with St. Paul, ' I was 
free born,' and have never renounced that free- 
dom. 

" Judges, justices, sheriffs, attorneys, notaries, 
and all officers of the law whatever, and all per- 
sons who have ever been, or who have ever 
claimed to be, citizens of the United States in 
this department, who therefore exercise any of- 
fice, hold any place of trust or calling whatever 
which calls for the doing of any legal act what- 
ever, or for the doing of any act, judicial or ad- 
ministrative, which shall or may affect any other 
person than the actor, must take and subscribe 
the following oath : ' I do solemnly swear (or 
affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance 
to the United States of America, and will sup- 
port the constitution thereof.' All acts, doings, 
deeds, instruments, records or certificates, certi- 
fied or attested hj, and transactions done, per- 
formed, or made by any of the persons above 
described, from and after the 15th day of June 
inst., who shall not have taken and subscribed 
such oath, are void and of no effect. 

" It having become necessary, in the judgment 
of the commanding general, as a 'public exi- 
gency,' to distinguish those who are well dis- 
posed toward the government of the United 
States, from those who still hold allegiance to 
the Confederate States, and ample time having 
been given to all citizens for reflection upon this 
subject, and full protection to person and prop- 
erty of every law-abiding citizen having been 
afforded, according to the terms of the proclama- 
tion of May 1st: 

" Be it further ordered, That all persons ever 
heretofore citizens of the United States, asking 
or receiving any favor, protection, privilege, 
passport, or to have money paid them, property, 
or other valuable thing whatever delivered ^o 



120 



THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 



them, or any benefit of the power of the Un'ted 
States oxteiuled to theni, except protection from 
personal violence, must take and subscribe the 
oath above .specified, before tiieir request can bo 
heard, or any act done in their favor by any 
officer of tho' United States within this depart- 
ment. And for this purpose all persons shall be 
deemed to have been citizens of tho United 
Stales who shall have been residents therein for 
the space of five years and upward, and if foreign 
born, shall not have claimed and received a pro- 
tection of their government, duly signed and re- 
gistered by the proper officer, more than sixty 
days previous to the publication of this order. 

" It having come to the knowledge of the 
commanding general that many persons resident 
within this department have heretofore been aid- 
ing rebellion by furnishing arms and munitions 
of war, running the blockade, giving information, 
concealing property, and abetting b}' other 
ways, the so-called Confederate Slates, in viola- 
tion of tho laws of neutrality imposed upon them 
by their sovereigns, as well as the laws of the 
United Slates, and that a less number are still so 
engaged ; it is therefore ordered, that all foreign- 
ers claiming any of the privileges of an Amer- 
ican citizen, or protection or favor from the 
government of the United States (except pro- 
tection from personal violence), shall previ- 
ously take and subscribe an oath lu the form fol- 
lowing : 

" I, , do solemnly swear, or afifirm, 

that so long as my government remains at peace 
with the United Stales, I will do no act, or con- 
sent that any be done, or conceal any that has 
been or is about to be done, that shall be done, 
that shall aid or comfort any of the enemies or 
opposers of the United States whatever. 

"(Signed), 

"Subject of ." 

" At the City Rail, at the provost court, 
at the provost marshal's office, and at the sev- 
eral police stations, books will be opened, and 
- a proper officer will be present to adminis- 
ter tho proper oalhs to any person desiring 
to take the same, and to witness the subscrip- 
tion of the same by the party taking it. Such 
officer will furnish to each person bo taking and 
eubscribing, a certificate in form following : 

" Dkpartmbnt of the Gulf, 

" New Orleans, 1862. 

" has taken and subscribed tho 

oath required by General Order No. 41, for a 

" (Signed), ." 

General orders issued at New Orleans usually 
produced cousiderablo stir among the parties in- 
terested; but none of them caused so much ex- 
cilemen.t and such univers.al alarm as this. If 
the citizens were astounded, the foreigners were 
puzzled. No one was obliged to take the 
oath ; but what would happen to those who did 
not take it ? Tho olfice-holders, however, could 
cnlerlain no doubts respecting their fate, and all 
of them who atlhered slill to tho Richmond gov- 
ernment at once resigned their places. The resi- 
due of the city government was dissolved, and 
tho miliiary commandant reigned alono over 



New Orleans. One of the city officials, I ob- 
serve from divers documents, made a parting 
dive into the" oily treasury, but he was caught 
in tho act, and compelled to let go his booty. 

Gen. Shepley immmdiately issued the following: 
order : 

"So much of the executive power of the city 
as has heretofore been vested in the mayor, will, 
for the present, be exercised by the military 
commandant of New Orleans. 

" A 'bureau of finance' is hereby constituted, 
composed of a board of three perilous, one of 
whom shall be the chairman of the board, to be 
appointed by the military commandant, with 
such clerks as may from time to time be found 
necessary, and may be appointed by the chair- 
man of the board, subject to the approval of the 
military commandant. The dulies of said bu- 
reau shall bo the same as those which — under 
the act approved March 20, 1856, and under 
other laws constituting tho charter of the said 
city of New Orleans, and under the ordinances 
of the city now in force — have been attributed 
to the several committees on finance, fire, police, 
judiciary, claims, education, and heallh, in the 
board of aldermen and in the board of assistant 
aldermen of the common council of New Or- 
leans. The oflices of said bureau shall be in the 
City Hall. 

" A ' bureau of streets and landings,' consist- 
ing of three persons, one of whom shall be chair- 
man, is hereby constituted. The duties of said 
bureau shall be the same which, under the char- 
ters, laws and ordinances of the city of New Or- 
leans, have been appropriated to tiie several 
committees on streets and landings, workhouses 
and prison.s, and house of refuge, in the board 
of aldermen and board of assistant aldermen. 
The office of said bureau shall be in tho City 
Hall, and the chairman shall appoint, subject to 
the approval of the military gDmmaudant, the 
necessary clerks, whose compensation will bo 
fixed by the bureau, subject to the same ap- 
proval. 

"The following named persons will constitute 
the bureau of finance : E. H. Durell, chairman ; 
D. S. Dewees, Stoddart Howell. 

" The following named persons will constitute 
the bureau of streets and landings : Julian 
Neville, chairman; Edward Ames, Benjamin 
Campbell. 

" By order. C. F. Shepley, 

" Military Commandanl of New Orleans, 

" Approved and ordered. 

"B. F. BUTLEB, 

The consuls, as usual, bad something to say 
to tho general upon the new topic. " If General 
Butler rides up Canal street," said the Deltck, 
" the consuls are sure to come in a body, and 
' protest' that he did not ride down. If be 
smokes a pipe in the morning, he is sure to have 
a deputation in tho evening, asking why he did 
not smoke a cigar. If he drinks cofl'ee, they 
will send some rude messenger with a note ask- 
ing, in tho name of some tottering dynasty, why 
ho did not drink tea." The consuls did not 
gain much glory in this new contest with the 
general. Ho simply changed the form of the 
oath to that enjoined by the rebel authorities, 
against which no consul had protested. 

The oath-taking, meanwhile, weut vigorously 



THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS. 



121 



on. On the 1th of August, Colonel French had 
the pleasure of rcportinn; that the oath prescribed 
to citizens had been taken by 11,723 persons; 
the foreign neutrals' oath, by 2,499 persons ; and 
that 4,933 privates and 211 officers of tho Con- 
federate army had given the required parole. 

This was tho more gratifying from the fact, 
that the social influence of the city was all em- 
ployed against the taking of tho oath. Ladies 
refused to receive gentlemen who were known 
to have taken it. Gentlemen were notitied to 
leave their boarding-houses who had thus avowed 
their attachment to the Union. Books were 
kept, by noted secessionists, in which the names 
of such were recorded for future vengeance. 
Men who were accused of having taken the oath 
thought it necessary, in some instances, to resent 
tho cliarge as a calumny.* Others who had re- 
cently taken it, boasted that they had done so 
only to secure tlie temporary advantages attached 
to the act, and avowed their readiness to take as 



* A perfectly well-informed officer related the follow- 
ing; incidents : 

" Holt's drinkin<:-saloon was one of the most fiisliion- 
able in the city. The propi'ietor, the son of the famous 
New York hotel-keeper of that name, kept fast horses, 
a fashionable private residence, and received his income 
by the hundred dollars a day. In an evil hour secession 
seized upon the land, and Holt was induced to issue 
Bhinplasters. His reputation for wealth and business 
profits made the;n popular, and inducements were held 
out for immense issues. Gradually, however, business 
fell off, and Holt, when General Butler ordered that 
personal paper money should be redeemed by bank- 
notes, found it impossible to comply with the procla- 
mation, and this inability was increased by the fact that 
ho had taken the oath of allegiance, and his regular cus- 
tomers refused, therefore, to be comforted at his house. 
The finale was that Holt was sold out, and his establish- 
ment, repainted and restocked, opened under the 
auspices of one Jolm Hawkins. To give the place the 
ihie amount of eclat, Captain Clark, of the Delta, know- 
ing that it was against tlie law for any one to sell liquor 
In the city, unless by a person who had taken the oath 
of allegiance and obtaiqted a license, caused it to be pub- 
lished that at last our citizens were blessed with a 
'Union drinking-sahxjn,' and at the same time invited 
all persons who loved the stars and stripes to patronize 
tills new establishment. 

"This flattering notice fell upon John Hawkins as a 
thunderbolt; he frantically rushed over to the news- 
paper office and pr(jtested that he was a rebel, and that 
he relied upon his secession friends for patronage ; he 
declared that lie was a ruined man unless something 
was done to immediately purge his fair fame of any taint 
of loyalty to his native land. Captain Clark, who fully 
appreciated tlie unfortunate publican's feeling.s, and 
with the spirit and liberality of a chivalrous editor, 
offered his columns for an explanation, which offer re- 
sulted in the publication of the following card ; 

"Hawkins Ho0SB. 

" ' To the Editor of the New Orleans Delta : 

** ' The editorial statement in your journal of this morn- 
fng, to tlie effect that I have taken the oath of allegiance, 
is a fabricatioa Joun Hawkins. 

"'New Orleans, July 17, 1S62.' 

" Sece.ssia was delighted ; John's friends crowded his 
precincts all day, and drank to John's health, and at 
John''x expense. The dawn of the following morning 
promised a brilliant future; but, alas! Deputy piovo.st- 
marshal. Colonel Stafford, whose business it is to see 
that public drinking-house keepers liave taken the oath 
of allegiance, sent after Mr. Hawkins, and asked him 
what ri:;ht he had to keep a shop ojien without license, 
and farther inquired if John did not know that he could 
not get a license unless he took oath to be a good citi- 
zen under the national government. This interference 
on the part of General Hutler and his subordinates with 
tho unalienable rights of Secessia has. of cnurso, thrown 
a new brauil of discord into the community, and the 
fearful catastrophe seems impendiuf.', that will compel 
the habitues of tho fashionable drinking-saloons to have 
the slow poison dealt out by loyid citizens." 



many oaths as Picayune Butler thought it neces- 
sary to impose ; as no faith was to be kept with 
Yankees. All these things were noted by Gen- 
eral Butler, who " bided his time." 

Another of the general's precautionary meas- 
ures, was the disarming of Now Orleans. The 
city was full of arms. Nearly every house, of 
any pretensions, contained some, and nearly 
every well-dressed man carried a weapon of 
some kind. At first, the general had no inten- 
tion of depriving private persons of their arms, 
since he had assured the public, m his proclama- 
tion, that private property should bo respected. 
Under the general order, commanding the dis- 
closure and surrender of Confederate properly, a 
considerable quantity of arms and munitions of 
war were seized ; but the most virulent of the 
rebels were still allowed the inestimable privilege 
of carrying a pocketful of revolvers, and a bowie- 
knife parallel to the back-bone. The event which 
led to the universal disarming of the city was 
this: In August, on the bloody field of Baton 
Rouge, were found dead and wounded citizens of 
Baton Rouge, wearing still their usual arms, 
who, on the very evening before tlie attack, had 
mingled familiarly with the officers of the Union 
army, and who, on the approach of Breckinridge, 
had hastened to join his troops, and to engage 
in the conflict. Lieutenant "VVeitzel reported this 
significant fact to General Butler, who immediate- 
ly determined to compel the surrender of every 
private weapon in New Orleans. The requisite 
orders were issued ; arms in great quantities 
were brought in and safely deposited ; for all 
of which receipts were given. 

The French consul objected, of course. His 
protest had only the efl'ect of adding one more to 
General Butler's amusing consular letters. 

GENERAL BUTLER TO THE FRENCH CONSUL. 
" HKAD-QtTAKTEES, DkPAETMENT OP THE GuLF, 

"Ni5W Okleans, August 14, 1862. 

" Sir : Your official note to Lieutenant "Weitzel 
has been forwarded to me. 

"I see no just cause of complaint against the 
order requiring the arms of private citizens to be 
given up. It is the usual course pursued in 
cities similarly situated to this, even without any 
exterior force in the neighborhood. 

" You will observe that it will not do to trast 
to mere professions of neutrality. I trust most 
of your countrymen are in good Lai\\ neutral ; but 
it is unfortunately true that some of them are 
not. This causes the good, of necessity, to suffer 
for the acts of the bad. 

" I take leave to call your attention to the fact, 
that the United States forces gave every immu- 
nity to Monsieur Bonnegrass, wlio claimed to 
be the French consul at Baton Rouge ; allowed 
him to keep his arms, and relied upon his neu- 
trality ; but his son was taken prisoner on the 
battle-field in arms against us. 

" You will also do me the favor to remember 
that very few of tlie French subjects here have 
taken tlie oath of neutrality, which was ofl'ered to, 
but not required of them, by my Order No. 41, 
although all the officers of tlie French Legion 
had, with j'our knowledge and assent, taken the 
oath to support the constitution of the Con- 
federate States. Thus you see I have no guar- 
antee for the good faith of bad men. " I do not 



122 



THE CONFISCATIOIT ACT. 



understand liow it is that arms aro altered in 
their etTcclivencss by beinpc ' personal property,' 
nor do I see how arms which will servo for per- 
sonal defense (' qui ne peuveut servir que pour 
leur defense pcrsonnelle'), can not be as effec- 
tually used for oft'onsivo warfare. 

" Of the disquiet of which you say there are 
signs manifesting themselves among the black 
population, from a desire to break their bonds, 
(' certaiues dispositions a rompreles liens qui les 
attachont a leurs maitres'), 1 have been a not 
inattentive observer, wiihout wonder, because it 
would seem natiu'al, when their masters had set 
them the example of rebellion against constituted 
authorities, that the negroes, being an imitative 
race, should do likewise. 

"But surely the representative of the emperor, 
who does not tolerate slavery in France, does 
not desire his countrymen to be armed for the 
purpose of preventing the negroes from breaking 
their bonds. 

" Let me assure you that the protection of the 
United States against violence, either by negroes 
or while men, whether citizens or foreign, will 
continue to be as perfect as ic has been since our 
advent here; and far more so, manifesting itself 
at all moments and everywhere ('tons les in- 
stants et partout'), than any improvised citizens' 
organization can be. 

" Wlienever the inhabitants of this city will, 
by a public and united act, show both their loy- 
alty and neutrality, I shall be glad of their aid 
to keep the peace, and indeed to restore the city 
to them. Till that time, however, I must require 
the arms of all the inhabitants, white and black, 
to be under my control. I have the honor to 
be, your obedient servant, 

Benj. F. Butler, Maj.-Gen. Com. 
"To Count Mejan, French ConsuV 

To secure the surrender of arms still secreted, 
the following stringent general order was issued : 

"New Orleans, August \^, 1862. 

" Ordered, That after Tuesday, 19th inst, 
there be paid for information leading to the dis- 
covery of weapons not held under a written per- 
mit Irom the United States authorities, but 
retained and concealed by the keepers thereof, 
the sums following: 

For each serviceable gun, musket or rifle. . .$10 

" revolver 7 

" pistol 5 

" sabre or officer's sword 5 

" dirk, dagger, bowie-knife or sword- 
cane 3 

" Said arms to be confiscated, and the keeper 
80 concealing them to be punished by imprison- 
ment. 

" The crime being an overt act of rebellion 
against the authority of the United States, 
whether by a citizen or an alien, works a for- 
feiture of tlie property of the offender, and, there- 
fore, cwcry slave giving information that shall 
discover llio concealed arms of his or her master, 
shall be held to bo emancipated. 

" II. As the United States authorities have 
disarmed the inhabitants of the parish of Orleans, 
and as some fearful citizens seem to think it 
necessary that they should have arms to protect 
themselves from violence, it is ordered, 



" That hereafter, the offenses of robbery by 
violence or aggravated assault that ought to be 
repelled by the use of deadly weapons, burglaries, 
rapes and murders, whether committed by blacks 
or whites, will bo, on conviction, punished by 
death." 

Union men, known and tried, were permitted 
to keep their arms. To one or two old soldiers 
of the war of 1812, the privilege was accorded 
of retaining tlio weapons once honoraljly borne 
in the service of their country. Many weapons 
were, doubtless, still secreted ; but, for all pur- 
poses of co-operation with an attacking force, 
New Orleans was disarmed. The wliole number 
of surrendered weapons was about six thousand. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE CONFISCATION ACT. 



The act of Congress conl3?cating the property 
of rebellious citizens was approved July 17th. 

Before the passage of the act. General Butler 
had taken tiie liberty to " sequester" the estates 
of those two notorious traitors, General Twiggs 
and John Slidell, both of whom possessed large 
property in New Orleans. These estates he held 
for the adjudication of the government, and, in 
the meantime, selected the spacious mansion of 
General Twiggs for his own residence and that 
of a portion of his staff. Among the papers 
found in his house were certain letters which 
tended to show that Twiggs had sought the 
command in Texas with a view to the betrayal 
of his trust, a crime only once paralleled in the 
history of the country. Twiggs fled from New 
Orleans on the approach of the fleet, conscious 
that such turpitude as his could not fail to meet 
its just retribution. He died soon after, but not 
before he had heard that the flag of his betrayed 
country floated over his residence as the head- 
quarters of the army of occupation. 

Three sword.s, presented to him for his gal- 
lantry in Mexico, one bj' Congress, one by the 
state of Georgia, his native state, one by Augusta, 
his native city, were left behind in the custody 
of a young lady, and fell into the hands of 
General Butler. The young lady claimed them 
as her own. She said that General Twiggs had 
given them to her on new-year's day, with a box 
of family silver, alleging as a reason for this 
strange gift the recent death of a beloved niece 
to whom ho had previously bequeathed them. 
Three facts were elicited which induced the 
general to set aside her clann. One was, that 
Twiggs had brought the articles to tho young 
lady's residence, not on new-year's day, but at 
the moment of liis flight from the city. Another 
wa.s, that she had never mentioned so extra- 
ordinary a present to any member of her family — 
as appeared on the separate examination of 
each. Another was, that General Twiggs had 
left with tho articles the document following: 
" I leave my swords to Miss Rowena Florence, ^ 
and box of silver. New Orleans, April 25, 1862. 
1). E. Twiggs:" which was hastily written in 
the carriage at the door. 

General Butler ventured to disbelieve Miss 
Rowena Florence, and sent the swords to th^ 



THE CONFISCATION ACT. 



123 



president of the United States. He su^ge.sted 
that the one presented by congres.s, should be 
given to some officer dislinguislied in the war ; 
that the one given by the state of Georgia, should 
be deposited at the military academy at West 
Point, with a suitable inscription, as a warning 
totlie cadets ; and that tiie tliird should be placed 
in the patent office as a, memento of the folly of 
such an "invention" as secession. In forward- 
ing the swords to congress, the president re- 
marked, that if either of them were presented to 
an officer of the army, " General Butler is enti- 
tled to the first consideration. 

The sword voted by Kentucky to General 
Zachary Taylor, was rescued by General Butler 
from disloyal hands in New Orleans. Pie sent 
it to the son of the l;:te president — Brigadier- 
General Joseph Taylor of the Union array. 

The confiscation act, it will be remembered, 
divided rebels into two classes. The property 
of one class was to be confiscate! at once, or as 
soon as it fell into the possession of the United 
States ; the property of the other class was to be 
confiscated afi;cr sixty daj-s' warning. Tlie first 
class consisted of all military and naval officers 
commanding rebels in arms ; the president, vice- 
president, judges, members of congress, cabinet 
ministers, foreign emissaries, and other agents of 
tbe Confederate States ; the governors and judges 
of seceded states ; in short, all who hold office 
under the Confederate government, or under the 
government of a seceded slate, as well as citizens 
of loyal states who gave aid and comfort to the 
rebellion. The second class included the great 
mass of the privates in the Confederate army and 
navy, and all unofficial abettors of the rebellion. 
The property of these last was to be declared 
confiscated sixty days after the date of the presi- 
dent's proclamation warning them to lay down 
their arms and return to their allegiance. As 
this proclamation was issued on the 25th of July, 
the days of grace expired on the 23d of September. 

With this explanation, the reader will under- 
Btand ihe object of the following general order, 
and will be able to imagine its effect upon the 
secessionist of New Orleans: 

New Oklbans, Sept. 13, 1862. 

" As in the course of ten days it may become 
necessary to distinguish the disloyal from the 
loyal citizens and honest neutral foreigners re- 
siding in this department: 

"It is ordered, That each neutral foreigner, 
resident in tliis department, shall present himself, 
with the evidence of his nationality, to the near- 
est provost-marshal for registration of himself and 
his family. 

" This registration shall include tbe following 
particulars ; 

"The country of birth. 

" The length of time the person has resided 
within the United States. 

"The names of his family. 

" The present place of residence, by street, 
number or other description. 

" The occupation. 

" The date of protection or certificate of nation- 
[ '"ality-j. which shall be indorsed by the passport- 
''•* <jlerk, ' registered ' with date of register. 

" All false or simulated claims of foreign alle- 
giance, by native or naturalized citizens, wiU be 
severely punished." 



This premonition of coming retribution called 
attention anew to the clause of the confiscation 
act which declared all conve3-ances of property 
made after the expiration of the sixty days to bo 
void. Instantly there begai! such a universal 
transferring of property as no city had ever be- 
fore seen. Property was given away ; property 
was sold for next to nothing ; all the known ex- 
pedients for getting rid of property were em- 
ployed; until it seemed probabl.- that by the 23d 
of September, not a rebel in New Orleans would 
be found to possess anything whatL'ver, and the 
entire wealth of the city would be held by that 
portion of the people who had taken the oath of 
allegiance, or by parties at a great distance, and 
inaccessible, or by minors and women. General 
Butler determined to use his autocratic authority 
to put a stop to these fictitious transfers. The 
following general order accomplished this pur- 
pose. 

New Orleans, Sept. 1862. 

" I. All transfers of property, Or rights of 
property, real, mixed, personal or incorporeal, 
except necessary food, medicine and clothing, 
either by way of sale, gift, pledge, payment, 
lease or loan, by an inhabitant of this depart- 
ment, who has not returned to his or her alle- 
giance, to the United States (having once been a 
citizen thereof), are forbidden and void, and the 
person transferring and the person receiving shall 
be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both. 

" 11. All registers of the transfer of certificates 
of stock or shares in any incorporated or joint-stock 
company or association, in which any inhabitant 
of this department, who has not returned to his 
or her allegiance to the United States (having 
once been a citizen thereof), has any interest, 
arc forbidden, and the clerk or other officer mak- 
ing or recording the transfer will be held equally 
guilty with the transferer." 

And more. Some wise men of New Orleans, 
foreseeing the evil, had long ago reduced them- 
selves to fictitious beggar}'. The decisions of Mr. 
Reverdy Johnson, sustained by the government, 
had given rise to the impression that papers made 
out in the forms of law, would be permitted to 
nullify an act of Congress, as well as set at 
naught the decrees of General Butler. Many 
men of wealth had acted upon this impression, 
"making over " valuable estates to others, for 
considerations that were ridiculously small 
General Butler seized and " sequestered " some 
property thus transferred, holding it for the gov- 
ernment to decide upon the legality of such pro- 
ceedings. One noted case of this kind he selected 
as a test, and submitted it to the secretary of 
state. The dispatch in which the particulars 
were detailed, shall be presented here, for the 
light it throws upon the stale of things in New 
Orleans and the peculiar difficulties of General 
Butler's position. It is fair to ytiess that this 
dispatch had something to do with General But- 
ler's recall from the Department of the Gulf — a 
measure which was not suggested by the presi- 
dent. 

GENERAL BUTLER TO MR. SEWARD. 

" Head-quaktees, Department of the Gulf, 
" New Orleans, September 19, 1862. 

" Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State : 
" Sir: — I have the honor to report to you tho 
following facts : 



124 



THE COITFISOATION ACT. 



" C. McPonald Fap;o, a British subject, resi- 
dent many years in New Orleans, is about to 
make claim to tlie property of Wright & Allen 
in New Orleans, whicii has been taken pos^s- 
sion of by the United States authorities here un- 
der the following state of facts ; 

"Wright & Allen are colton-brokers, who 
claim to have property outside of New Orleans 
of two millions of dollars. They are most rabid 
rebels, and were of those who published a card 
advising the planters not to send forward their 
crop of cotton for the purpose of inducing foreign 
intervention. 

" Soon after we came to New Orleans, they 
mortgaged their real estate here, consisting of a 
house, for $60,000, to planters in the State of 
Arkansas, and then sold the equity, together 
with their furniture, for $r),000 to Mr. Fago : 
paying about four thousand five hundred dollars 
per annum interest on the property, and to 
receive nothing. His only payment, however, 
was by his own note in twelve mouths, which 
was sent to their friend, the planter in Arkansas. 

" Wright & Allen wore then openly boasting 
that they would not take the oath of allegiance 
to the United States, and were encouraging 
others to refuse and stand by secession. In 
order to divest themselves of the last vestige of 
visible property upon which the confiscation act 
could take effect, liaving given to the widow of 
their deceased partner, an Irish woman, a note 
or notes for three thousand five hundred dollars, 
they then sell her their plate for that amount, 
and then have it shipped under another name to 
Liverpool. 

" A large number of others are following their 
example; and, indeed, all the property of New 
Orleans is changing hands into those of foreign- 
ers and women, to avoid the consequences of the 
confiscation act. 

"Believing all this to be deplorable, I have 
resolved to make this a test case, and have seized 
this property, and intend to hold it where it is 
tintil the matter can be submitted to the courts. 

" Mr. Fago has sent to Washington to have 
this property given up as a test case. If the 
course of authority hero is interfered with in this 
. case, it will be next to impossible to maintain 
order in this city. Tliis Mr. Fago has first had 
a large amount of supar, belonging to an aid of 
Governor Moore, given up to him by tiie deci- 
sion of Reverdy Johnson. Emboldened by this 
experiment he proposes to try once more. If 
successful, I should prefer that the government 
would get some one else to hold New Orleans 
instead of myself Indeed, sir, I beg leave to 
add, that another such commissioner as Mr. 
Johnson sent to New Orleans would render the 
city untenable. The town itself got into such a 
state while Mr. Johnson was here, that he con- 
fessed to me tliat he could hardly sleep from 
nervousness from fear of a rising, and hurried 
away, hardlj' completing his work, as soon as he 
heard Baton llouge was about to be attacked. 

" The result of his mission here has caused it 
to be understood that I am not supported by the 
government; that I am soon to be relieved; 
that all my acts are to be overhauled, and that a 
rebel may do anything he pleases in the city, as 
the worst may be a few days' imprisonment, 
when my successor will come and he will be 
released. 



" To such an extent has this thing gone, that 
inmates of the parish prison, sent there for grand 
larceny, robbery, &c., in humble imitation of the 
foreign consuls, have agreed together to send an 
agent to Washington to ask for a commissioner 
to investigate charges made by these thieves 
against the provost-marshal, by whose vigilance 
they were detected. 

" Alexander the coppersmith, by his cry, 
'Great is Diana of the Ephesians' ('the institu- 
tion of slavery is in danger'), did me much harm 
in Louisiana, from the clTects of wliich I am just 
recovering; and the only fear I now have is, 
that if the last accounts are true, Mr. Johnson 
will have so much more nervous apprehension 
for his personal safety in Baltimore than ho had 
in New Orleans, that he will want to come back 
here, now the yellow fever season is over, as to 
a place of security.* 

" I have done myself the honor to make this 
detail of tlie case at length to the slate depart- 
ment, so that all the facts are before it upon 
which I act. The inferences from those facts 
must, from the nature of testimony, be left to my 
judgment until the courts can act authoritatively 
in the matter. 

" Another reason why I have detailed the facts 
is, that in the reports of Mr. Johnson furnished 
to the consuls to be read here, every fact is re- 
pressed which would form a shadow of justifica- 
tion for my acts, and ex parte affidavits of par- 
ties accused by me of fraudulent transfers of 
large amounts of property are the sole basis of 
the report. 

" True, by that report more than three-quar- 
ters of a million of specie is placed in the hands 
of one Forstall, a rebel, a leading member of the 
'Southern Independent Association,' a league 
wherein each member bound himself by a horrid 
and impious oath ' to resist unto death itself all 
attempts to restore the Union.' A confrere of 
Pierre Soul6 in the conwnittce of the city which 
destroyed more than ten millions of property by 
fire, to prevent its coming into the hands of the 
United States authorities, when the fleet passed 
the forts. 

" I beg of you, sir, to consider that I mention 
the characteristics of this report not in any tone 
of complaint of the state department. If it is ne- 
cessary to suppress facts, to impugn the motives 
and disown tlie acts of a commanding officer of 
the army in the field, or to publish to those 
plotting the destruction of the republic, that he 
has had control of public aftairs in New Orleans 
taken from him and transferred to a subordinate, 
because of the harshness of his administration, as 
was done in the dispatch to the minister of the 
Netherlands, even if the fact is not true, I bow 
to the mandate of ' state necessity ' without a 
murmur. I have made larger sacrifices than this 
for my country, and am prepared for still greater, 
if need be, but I only wish to make them when 
they will be useful, and therefore have painted 
the eftect of the commission, report, and dis- 
patch upon a turbulent, rebellious, uneasy, ex- 
citable, vindictive, brutalized, half foreign popu- 
lation, maddened by exaggerated reports of the 
actions of their fellows, the fall of the national 
capital, the invasion of the North, and excited 
to insubordination by the double hope, that 

* The rebel anny was then in Maryland. 



THE CONFISCATION ACT. 



125 



either hy the success of the arms of their breth- 
ren, or the interference of the national executive 
in their behalf, they shall soon be released from 
the only government which has ever held tlie 
city in quiet order, or unplundering peace. 
Awaiting instructions, 

" I have the honor to be, 

" Tour obedient servant, 

" Benjamin P. Butler, 

Maj.-Gen. ComcVg. 

This letter clearly marks the point of diver- 
gence between the two modes of dealing with the 
rebellion. As the reports of Mr. Johnson and 
the correspondence of Mr. Seward with Mr. Van 
Limburgh have been publislied, it is but fair 
that this dispatch should be also printed. Whe- 
ther the confiscation act was a politic or an im- 
politic measure is a question upon which honest 
and patriotic men may differ — do differ. But 
the act having been passed and approved, there 
can be no doubt that the duty of commanding 
generals was to give it real effect — not allow the 
government to be defrauded by the hasty manu- 
facture of fictitious legal papers. 

General Butler continued his preparations for 
enforcing the confiscation act. The day after the 
expiration of the sixty days' grace, the following 
general order was issued : 

"New Orleans, September 24, 1862. 

" All persons, male or female, within this de- 
partment, of the age of eighteen years and up- 
ward, who have ever been citizens of the United 
States, and have not renewed their allegiance 
before this date to the United States, or who 
now hold or pretend any allegiance or sympathy 
with the so-called Confederate States, are ordered 
to report themselves, on or before the first day 
of October next, to the nearest provost-marshal, 
with a descriptive list of all their property and 
rights of property, both real, personal and mixed, 
made out and signed by themselves respectively, 
with the same particularity as for taxation. 
They shall also report their place of residence by 
number, street, or other proper description, and 
their occupation, which registry shall be signed 
by themselves, and each shall receive a certifi- 
cate from the marshal of registration as claiming 
to bo an enemy of the United States. 

" Any persons, of those described in this order, 
neglecting so to register themselves, shall be sub- 
ject to fine, or imprisonment at hard labor, or 
both, and all his or her property confiscated, by 
order, as punishment for such neglect. 

" On the first day of October next, every 
householder shall return to the provost-marshal 
nearest him, a list of each inmate in his or her 
house, of the age of eighteen years or upward, 
which list shall contain the following par- 
ticulars : The name, sex, age and occupation of 
each inmate, whether a registered alien, one 
who has taken the oath of allegiance to the 
United States, a registered enemy of the United 
States, or one who has neglected to register him- 
self or herself, either as an alien, a loyal citizen, 
or a registered enemy. All householders neg- 
lecting to make such returns, or making a false 
return, shall be punished by fine, or imprison- 
ment with hard labor, or both. 

" Each policeman will, within his beat, be 



held responsible that every houseliolder failing 
to make such return, within three days from the 
first of October, is reported to the provost mar- 
shal; and five dollars for such neglect, for every 
day in which it is not reported, will be deducted 
from such policeman's pay, and he shall bo dis- 
missed. And a like sum for conviction of any 
householder not making his or her return shall 
be paid to the policeman reporting such house- 
holder. 

" Every person who shall, in good faith, renew 
his or her allegiance to the United States pre- 
vious to the first day of October next, and shall 
remain truly loyal, will be recommended to 
the president for pardon of his or her previous 
ofienses." 

This order led to a run on the oath offices. 
It was " understood" among the secessionists 
that an oath given to Yankees for the purpose 
of retaining property was a mere form of words 
not binding upon the consciences of the chivalric 
sons of the South. A very large number of per- 
sons, it is thought, acted upon this opinion ; for 
while the offices appointed for receiving the 
oaths were thronged and surrounded by eager 
multitudes of oath-takers, the number of " regis- 
tered enemies" was less than four thousand. 
"People," said the Delta, " who take the oath of 
allegiance, and afterward say, with a sneer, ' it 
did not go farther than there' (pointing to their 
throat), should bear in mind that if it is kept in 
that position, and they conduct themselves ac- 
cordingly, there is great danger of its choking 
them some fine morning." 

Before General Butler left the department, 
sixty thousand of its inhabitants had taken the 
oath of allegiance to the government of the 
United States. 

The rebel General Jeff. Thompson, who was 
in command near the Union lines, contrived to 
get in a word on this subject : 

" PoNonATotTLA, La., September 28th, 
" Sunday, 8 o'clock a.m. 

" Maj.-Gen. Butler, U. S. A., New Orlean.s, La.: 
" [Per Underground Telegraph.] 
" General : — We thank you for General Or- 
der No. 76. It will answer us for a precedent 
at New Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville, Baltimore, 
Washington, each of which we will have in a 
few days. We were undetermined how to act. 
Please ' pile it on.' 

" Yours respectfully, 

"Jefferson TnoifPSON, 
'■^ Brig.-Gen. C. S., comcL'g Southern Lme." 

If the general could regard this epistle as a 
joke, there were other correspondents whoso 
communications caused him real distress. The 
venerable and benevolent Dr. Mercer, for ex- 
ample, a gentleman for whom General Butler, in 
common with the whole army, entertained the 
most sincere respect, addressed him upon the 
subject of General Order No. 76. 

" You have probably inferred, from our vari- 
ous conversations, that I have not taken an oath 
of allegiance to the Confederate States, nor have 
been a member of any .society or public body in 
New Orleans, or elsewhere in the confederacy ; 
and that since your arrival here, I have main- 



126 



MORE OF THE IRON HAND. 



tained a strict neutrality. In pursuance with 
your OrckT No. 7(3, I will make a faillil'ul return, 
substantially, if not minutely accurate, of all 
my pniperiy here, except about $.'i,000, the 
greater part of which is in gold, that I have re- 
served for an emergency. I mention tiiis to you 
now to avoid misapprehension. Your order re- 
ferred to exempts only those who have taken 
the oath of allegiance; but I can not think you 
intend to include those in my situation as claim- 
ing to be 'enemies of the United States.' Such 
an interpretation is, in my opinion, at variance 
with the act of congress, as well as with the pro- 
clamation of President Lincoln." 

General Butler replied : 

"In my judgment, there can be no such thing 
as neutrality by a citizen of the United States in 
this contest for the life of the government. As 
an officer, I cannot recognize such neutrality. 
" fie that is not for us is against us.' 

"All good citizens are called upon to lend 
their influence to the United States; all that do 
not do so, are tho enemies of the United States; 
the line is to be distinctly and broadly drawn. 
Every citizen must find himself on one side or 
the other of that line, and can claim no other po- 
sition than that of a friend or an enemv of the 
United States. 

"While I am sorry to be obliged to differ from 
you in your construction of the act of congress 
and tho proclamation of the president, I cannot 
permit any reservation of property from the list, 
or exemption of pei-sous from the requirement of 
Order No. 76. It may be, and, I trust, is quite 
true, that by no act of yours have you rendered 
yourself liable to the confiscation of your prop- 
erty under the act and proclamation; but tliat 
is for the military or other courts (to decide). 
You, however, will advise yourself, with your 
usual cars and caution, what may be the effect, 
now that you are sdemnly called upon to declare 
yourself in favor of the government, of contu- 
maciously refusing to renew your allegiance to 
it, thereby inducing, from your example, others 
of your fellow-eitizeus to remain in the same op- 
position. I am glad to acknowledge your long 
and upright life as a man, your former services 
as an officer of the government, and the high 
respect I entertain for your personal character 
and moral worth; but I am dealing with your 
duty as a citizen of tho United States. All 
these noble qualities, as well as your high social 
condition, render your example all the more in- 
fluential and pernicious; and, I grieve to add, 
in my opinion, more dangerous to the interests 
of the United States, than if, a younger man, 
you had shouldered your musket and marched 
to the field in the army of rebellion.'' 

Dr. Mercer was therefore, compelled to choose 
a position on one side or the other of the " broad 
line." He did not take the oath of allegiance, 
but preferred to enroll himself among the regis- 
tered enemies of his country. After the de- 
parture of General Butler, he escaped to New 
York, where he has since resided. 

General Bail.'r proceeded in the work recom- 
mended by Jeff. Thompson, of " piling it on," 
taking the material from tho " piles" of the 
friends and comrades of that humorous officer. 
Another of his raking generab orders appeared 
in October, which sensibly reduced tho income 
of many conspicuous abettors of tho rebellion : 



" New Orleans, October 17, 1S62. 

" All persons holding powers of attorney or 
letters of authorization from, or who are merely 
acting for, or tenants of, or intrusted with any 
money.s, goods, wares, property or merchandise, 
real, personal or mixed, of any person now in the 
service of the so-called Confederate States, or 
any person not known by such agent, tenant or 
trustee to be a loyal citizen of the United States, 
or a bona fide neutral subject of a foreign govern- 
ment, will retain in their own hand, until larther 
orders, all such moneys, goods, wares, mer- 
chandise and property, and make an accurate 
return of the same to David C. G. Field, Esq., 
the financial clerk ofthis department, upon oath, 
on or before the first day of November next. 
Every such agent, tenant or trustee lading to 
make true return, or who shall pay over or deliver 
any such moneys, goods, wares, merchandise and 
property to, or for the use, directly ur indirectly, 
of any person not known by him to be a loyal 
citizen of the United Stales, without an order 
from these head-quarters, will be held personally 
responsible for the amount so neglected to be 
returned, paid over or delivered. All rents due 
or to become due by tenants of property belong- 
ing to persons not known to be loyal citizens of 
the United States, will be paid as the}' become 
due, to D. C. G. Field, Esq., financial clerk of the 
department." 

To complete the reader's knowledge of this 
subject, it is only necessary to add that, early in 
December, all registered enemies who desired to 
leave New Orleans, not to return, were permitted 
to do so. Several hundreds availed themselves 
ofthis permission, much to the relief of tho party 
for the Union. 

It was these stern and rigorously executed 
measures which completed the subjugation of the 
secessionists of New Orleans, and deprived them 
of all power to co-operate with treason beyond 
the Union lines. It was tliese measures which 
alone could have prepared the way for the 
sincere return of Louisiana to the Union, the 
first requisite to which was the suppression of 
tho small party which had traitorously taken the 
state out of the Union. To complete the regene- 
ration of the state, it was necessary to foster the 
self-respect, protect the interests, maintain the 
rights, and raise in the scale of civilizaliou that 
vast majority of the people of Louisiana, white 
and black, bond and free, whose interests and 
the interests of the United States are identicaL 
This great and difficult work General Butler was 
permitted only to begin. Tho backwoodsman 
was called from his fields when tho Ibrests had 
been cleared, the swamps drained, tho noxious 
creatures driven away, and all the rough, wild 
work done. There would have been a harvest 
in the following year, if the same energetic and 
fertile mind had continued to wield the resources 
of the land. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
MORE OF THE IRON HAND. 

Certain of the Episcopal clergy of New 
Orleans felt tho rigor of General Butler's rule. 
Tlie clergy of New Orleans were secession istfl. 



MORE OF THE IRON HAND. 



127 



of course. Any Christian minister capable of 
voluntarily living in tiie Soutli during the last 
twenty years, or any one who was permitted to 
live there, must have been a person prepared to 
forsake all and follow slavery. This was the 
condition of tlieir exercising ilie clerical odice in 
the cotton' kingdom, and when the time came 
thoy complied with that condition. 

One " eminent divine" of New Orleans, it is 
said, was heard to remark, that strong as was his 
belief in special providential dispensations, that 
faith would receive a severe, perhaps a fatal 
shock, if the yellow fever did not become epi- 
demic in New Orleans that summer. 

When the confi.scation act was about to be 
enforced, General Butler had a controvensy with 
Dr. Leacock, the Episcopal clergyman who 
promised to read the burial service over Lieu- 
tenant De Kay, and broke bis promise. Tliis 
gentleman was of English birth, but had long 
resided in New Orleans, and, I believe, had 
become a citizen of the United States; at least, 
he expressly disclaimed the protection of Britisli 
law. Dr. Leacock, it appears, now desired ex- 
emption from the decrees which tended to 
separate the friends from the enemies of the 
Union, and which denied all favor and privileges 
to those who openly adhered to the Coufederate 
cause. He claimed to be a friend of the Union — 
in fact, a Union man. Still, he was not prepared 
to take the oath of allegiance. Now, this 
man, in November, ISGO^ had preached a ser- 
mon in favor of secession, which so exactly 
chimed in with the feelings of the secessionists, 
that four editions of it were printed and sold, to 
the number of 30,000 copies. The sermon was 
the usual silly tirade against "the abolitionists," 
"the savage fanatics of the North," the deadly 
enemies of a noble southern chivalry. It con- 
tained, also, the regulation paragraphs upon 
John Brown and his " band of assassins," and 
the " iutidel preuchers" who had " stimulated" 
them to fall upon a poor, innocent, unsuspect- 
ing, persecuted, patient, long-suft'ering southern 
people. The concluding paragraph of this ser- 
mon was tlie following: 

'"Now, in justice to myself, I must be per- 
mitted to malie a remark before 1 close- But a 
lew weeks ago 1 counseled you, from this place, 
to avoid all precipitate action ; buc at the same 
lime to take determined action— such action 
only as you thought you could take with tiie 
conscious support of reason and religion. 1 ^-ive 
that counsel still. But I am one of you. i leel 
as a southerner. Southern honor is my honor — 
southern degiadation is my degradation. Let 
no man mistake my meaniug or call my words 
idle. As a southerner, then, I will speak, and 1 
give it as my firm and unhesitating belief^ that 
nothing is now left us but secession. 1 do not 
like the word, but it is the only one to express 
my meaning. We do not secede — our enemies 
have seceded. We are on the constitution — our 
enemies are not on the constitution ; and our 
language should be, if you will not go with us, 
we will not go with you. You may form ibr 
yourselves a constitution ; but we will administer 
among ourselves the constitution which our 
iathers have left us. This should be our lan- 
guage and solemn determination. Such action 
our honor demands ; such action will saye the 
Union, if anything can. We have yet friends 



left us in the North, but they cannot act for us 
till we have acted lor ourselves ; and it would 
be as pusillanimous in us to desert our friends 
as to cower before our enemies. To advance, is 
to secure our rights ; to recede, is to lay our 
fortunes, our honor, our liberty, under the feet of 
our enemies. I know that the consequences of 
such a course, unless guided by discretion, aro 
perilous. But, peril our Ibrtunes, peril our lives, 
come what will, let us never peril our liberty 
and our honor. I am willing, at the call of my 
honor and my liberty, to die a freeman ; but I'll 
never, no never, live a slave; and the alternative 
now presented by our enemies is secession or 
slavery. Let it be liberty or death !" 

General Butler ventured to adduce this sermon 
as evidence of its author's enmity to the Union. 
Dr. Leacoek's reply revealed an astounding moral 
obliquity : 

"I have not the sermon in manuscript to 
which, in your note of yesterdny, you refer. It 
was taken down during its delivery by a reporter 
unknown to me, but, being called away from the 
church before it was concluded, he requested the 
manuscript, that he might not, as he said, give a 
wrong report of my views. It was given, but 
never returned. I send, however, a printed copy of 
it with this remark ; that the last section, which 
I have circumscribed in pencil, was not delivered 
from the pulpit, as my whole congregation caa 
testify ; and that the publisher was immediately 
required by me, in the presence of several gen- 
tlemen, to state this fact, that it might be omitted 
in any future publication. 

" There is no man that desires more heartily 
than myself the restoration of this Union, as it 
was before the present controversy arose. In 
evidence of this fact, I send you another sermon, 
which was delivered a lew weeks after the one 
in print ; and as you will find great difficulty in 
reading it, I will transcribe the closing paragraph, 
to which 1 desire to refer you, as expressive of 
what I felt then, and of what I feel now. 

"'The destruction of our Union 1 Oh, there 
is not a spot on the civilized globe that would 
not lament the destruction of our Union. The 
wail with which the fathers in Egypt pierced the 
air on the death of their first-born, is ready to 
burst forth Irom our bosoms if this dire event 
should happen." 

General Butler, not desiring farther correspon- 
dence with this reverend person, caused Captain 
Puller to ask him whether he had published any 
recantatiou or disavowal of the secession para- 
graph of his sermon, or whether any one else had 
done so for him. He replied ; " I do not know. 
I only know that I requested the reporter, botli 
in person and by letter, to omit the last para- 
graph, because 1 did not give utterance to it." 
it thus appeared that this Union man had stood 
by and seen tens of thousands of copies of a ser- 
mon advising the dismemberment of the Union, 
and had enjoyed the popularity attached to the 
utterance of sucii advice, witliout deeming it 
worth while to inform the public that the pas- 
sage had never been delivered, and did not ex- 
press his mature opinion. Those who can believe 
in such Unionism may also be able to believe 
that the sermon quoted in the doctor's letter was 
delivered after the published one, which every 
man in liis congregation must have read. 



128 



MORE OF THE lEON HAND. 



A few days after, an event occurred which I clergy of the Episcopal church had taken upon 



brought Geiiural Butler into such direct collision 
with the Episcopal clergy, that New Orleans was 
not considered by the general largo enough to 
contain both parties in the controversy. 

On a Sunday morning, early in October, Major 
Strong entered the office of the general in plain 
clothes, and said : 

"I haven'i been able to goto church since we 
came to New Orleans. This morning I am 
going." 

He crossed the street, and took a front seat in 
the Episcopal church of Dr. Goodrich, opposite 
the mansion of General Twiggs. He joined in 
the exercises with the earnestness which was 
natural to his devout mind, until the clergyman 
reached that part of the service where the prayer 
for the president of the United States occurs. 
That prayer was omitted, and the minister in- 
vited the congregation to spend a few moments 
in silent prayer. The young ofiBcer had not 
previously heard of this mode of evading, at 
once, the requirements of the church, and the 
orders of the commanding general. He rose in 
his place and said : 

"Stop, sir. It is my duty to bring these ex- 
ercises to a close. I came here for the purpose, 
and the sole purpose, of worshiping God; but 
inasmuch as your minister has seen fit to omit 
invoking a blessing, as our church service re- 
quires, upon the president of the United States, 
I propose to close the services. This house will 
be shut within ten minutes." 

The clergyman, astounded, began to remon- 
strate. 

" This is no time for discussion, sir," said the 
major. 

The minister was speechless and indignant. 
The ladies flashed wrath upon the officer, who 
stood motionless with folded arms. The men 
scowled at him. Tlie minister soon pronounced 
the benediction, the congregation dispersed, and 
Major Strong retired to report the circumstances 
at head-quarters. 

This brought the matter to a crisis. General 
Butler sent for the Episcopal clergymen, Dr. 
Leacock, Dr. Goodrich, Dr. Fulton, and others, 
who were all accustomed to omit the prayer for 
the president, and pray in silence for the triumph 
of treason. The general patiently and courteous- 
ly argued the point with them at great length, 
quoting Bible, rubrics and history with his 
wonted fluency. They replied that, in omitting 
the prayer, they were only obeying the orders 
of the Right Reverend Major-Goneral Polk, their 
ecclesiastical superior. The general denied the 
authority of that military prelate to change the 
liturgy, and contended that llio omission of the 
prayer, in the peculiar circtimstauces of the time 
and place, was an overt act of treason. Obedience 
to the powers that be, he said, was the peculiar 
aim and boast of the iCpiscopal church ; and no 
one could doubt that the dominant power in 
New Orleans was the president of the United 
States. And even granting that the president 
was a usurper, that would be only one rca.ion 
more ibr praying for him. The Union forces liad 
not come to New Orleans for a temporary pur- 
pose; they meant to stay. Thero was no power 
on the continent or oil" the continent that could 
expel them. This praying for Davis must stop 
at some time ; why not now ? Besides, the 



themselves the most solemn vows to obey the 
canons and rubrics of the church, and their omis- 
sion of part of the liturgy was of the nature of 
perjury. 

''But, General," said Dr. Leacock, "your in- 
sisting upon the taking of the oaih of allegiance 
is causing half of mj' church-membera to perjure 
themselves." 

" Well," replied the general, " if that ist.he re- 
sult of your nine years' preaching ; if your people 
will commit perjury so freely, the sooner you 
leave your pul])it the better." 

After furtlier conversation. Dr. Leacock asked : 
" Well, General, are you going to shut up the 
churches?" 

" No, sir, I am more likely to shut up the 
ministers." 

The clergymen showing no disposition to yield, 
General Butler ended the interview by stating 
his ultimatum : " Read the prayer for the presi- 
dent, omit the silent act of devotion, or leave 
New Orleans prisoners of state for Fort Lafay- 
ette." 

After consultation with one another and with 
their people, after endless vacillation on the part 
of Dr. Leacock, three of the clergymen. Dr. Lea- 
cock, Dr. Goodrich and Mr. Fulton, decided not 
to read the prayer for the president. Captain 
Puller was detailed to conduct them to New 
York, and they sailed in the next transport. On 
the voyage. Captain Puffer informs me. Dr. 
Goodricii, a benevolent, venerable man. read 
prayers to the returning troops, and did not omit 
the prayer for the president. He ministered to 
the sick and dying, and won the sincere regard 
of all on board. Three weeks after their arrival, 
all the state prisoners were released, and they 
returned to New Orleans. General Banks de- 
manded the oath of allegiance as a condition of 
their landing. They declined the condition, and 
returned to New York. 

General Strong chanced to meet Dr. Goodrich, 
one day, at the St. Nicholas Hotel. They looked 
at each other for a moment in some embarrass- 
ment, neither knowing what were the feelings of 
the other. A smile overspread the benevolent 
countenance of the doctor. General Strong of- 
fered his hand, which Dr. Goodrich accepted, 
and the two men laughed heartily at the odd en- 
counter. 

" You did that well," said the clergyman, 
" since you had made up your mind to do it ; but 
why did'nt you come to mo privately and give 
me notice ?" 

General Strong explained the circumstances, 
and they continued to converse amicably. 

On the Sunday after the departure of the 
clergymen from New Orleans, their churches 
were open as usual, but the exercises wore con- 
ducted by chaplains of the Union army, who read 
the service without abridgment. Not many of 
tho auditors were of the seces.sionist persuasion. 
Church going, however, became a more frequent 
practice among officers and men after tins purg- 
ing of the pulpits, and, consequently, the places 
of the abseut members were not all vacant. 

The pass-office at head-quarters presented the 
tlie most distressing illustrations of the iron- 
handed luie to which Louisiana was necessarily 
subjected. Within tiio Union lines there was 
comparative plenty ; beyond them there was 



MORE OF THE IRON HAND. 



129 



desolation and want. Food, clothing and mcdi- 
dnes were to bo had in New Orleans by all who 
could pay for them ; and to such as could not 
they were given. Across the lakes, and above 
the camp of General Phelps, at CarrolJton, and 
in the region lying on the western side of the 
river, food was scarce in the extreme, clothing 
was scarcer, and the stock of medicines had long 
been exhausted. There were parents in the city 
who had starving children or sick children in 
the enemy's country, only a few miles distant. 
There were people in New Orleans whose aged 
parents, just beyond the lines, were suffering for 
the necessaries of life. There were others whose 
near relations, people of substance and respect- 
ability, were going half naked, or were dying for 
want of medicines. On the other hand, there 
were hundreds of secessionists in the city, whose 
constant aim, whose sole employment was, to 
devise means of smuggling supplies across the 
lines to the camps of rebel soldiery. 

The pressure, therefore, upon the commanding 
general for passes to go bej^ond the Union lines, 
was great and continuous. There were a hun- 
dred applications a day. Women came to head- 
quarters imploring permission to take a little 
clothing, medicine and food to their perishing 
children, calling all the saints to witness the 
truth of their story and the honesty of their in- 
tentions. A large majority of the apphcants 
were women, who assailed the tender hearts of 
the general and his staff with tears, entreaties 
and protestations. 

During the Erst weeks, General Butler 
himself heard the applicants, and decided upon 
their claims. But as this lausiness involved a 
great deal of questioning, cross-questioning and 
examination of papers, he was compelled, at 
length, to establish a member of his staff in an 
outer office at head-quarters, whose duty it was 
to sift from the mass of suitors the few whose 
story seemed credible and to warrant the indul- 
gence of a pass. These were reported to the 
general, who then decided upon their application. 
Captain A. F. Puffer, of Boston, was the officer 
selected for this duty. "When he left the city to 
conduct the three clergymen northward, his 
place was filled by Lieutenant Frederick Martin, 
of New York. These young officers held a post 
which severely taxed their patience, their firmness 
and their sagacity. I might add their integrity, 
also, if the integrity of an honorable soldier 
could ever be severely tried. " I was so often 
offered money for a pass," said Captain Puffer, 
"that, at last, I ceased to bo indignant, and 
would merely say to the orderly in attendance, 
as a matter of business, ' Show this woman out.' 
Ho was once offered three thousand dollars for 
a pass, the money to be paid before it was pro- 
cured. 

From the first, nine in ten of the applications 
were refused. Every one at head-quarters was 
aware that the indulgence was almost certain to 
be abused in some instances, and that the only 
safe course was to make the lines impassable. 
But many of the cases were so movingly piteous, 
the agony of the applicants seemed so real and 
so great, that it was not in human nature to 
shut the door inexorably upon them. Every 
possible precaution was taken to prevent the 
conveyance of contraband articles, or articles in 
contraband quantities. Every box and package 



was minutely examined; every departing boat 
was searched. A list was required of everything 
ahowcd to be taken, and the applicant pledged 
his honor that ho would take nothing else, nor 
apply the articles to any but the specified use. 

It soon appeared, however, that nearly every 
pass that was granted was abused. It soon ap- 
peared that a secessionist considered it no more 
dishonorable to lie to a Union officer than Jews 
once deemed it a sin to lie to a Cliristian. Here 
would come a woman, having the appearance 
and manners of a lady, begging with tears and 
sobs for permission to convey to her starving 
children across the lake just one barrel of flour, 
that they might have at least the means of sus- 
taining life. She would bring friends and papers 
in great numbers to testify to the truth of her 
story. After many days the pass would be 
granted ; and the detective officer, upon probing 
the barrel with a probe of extra length, would 
find a pound or two of quinine in the middle. 
A trunk of clothes would be found to have a 
false bottom stuffed with contraband articles. 
A barrel of potatoes would serve to hide some 
thousands of percussion-caps. Letters, too, giving 
contraband information, were frequently dis- 
covered concealed in the boats. 

Every detection, of course, hicreased tlie 
stringency of the pass-office. In August, the 
rebels began to seize boats that ventured within 
their lines, with a view to collect a flotilla for 
operations against the city. Then, at length, 
was adopted the inflexible rule, that no pa.sses 
should be granted. The adoption of the rule, 
however, did not lessen the number of applicants, 
nor diminish their importunity. " I was plied," 
says Captain Puffer, "with every conceivable 
story of heart-rending woe and misery, which 
the general, in consequence of the fact that in al- 
most every instance where he had yielded to 
such importunities, his confidfuce had been 
abused by the carrying of supplies and informa- 
tion to the rebel army, had ordered me invaria- 
bly to refuse. Ordinarily, T succeeded in steel- 
ing my heart against these urgent entreaties ; 
but occasionally some story, peculiarly harrow- 
ing in its details, seemed to demand a special 
effort in behalf of the applicant, and I would go 
to the general, and, in the desperation of my 
cause exclaim : 

" General, you must see some of these people. 
I know, if you would only hear their stories, you 
would give them passes." 

" You are entirely correct, captain," he would 
reply. " I am sure I should ; and that is pre- 
cisely why I want you to see them for me." 

" And with this very doubtful satisfaction I 
would return to my desk, convinced that sensi- 
bility in a man who was allowed no discretion in 
its exercise, was an entirely useless attribute, 
and that in future, I would set my face as a flint 
against every appeal to my feelings."* 

Two incidents of the pass-ofi3ce, related to me 
by Lieutenant Martin, will place this matter dis- 
tinctly before the reader's mind. 

One Mrs. L, haunted the office for three weeks, 
pleading with tears for her starving children, to 
whom she wished to convey a little food. She 
had shown some kindness to Union troops on 
one occasion, when they were passing her house. 

♦ Atlantic Monthly, July, 1863. 



130 



THE NEGRO QUESTION— FIRST DIFFCULTIES. 



and tbis was remembered in ber favor. A pass 
was given ber to go to St. Johns and return. 
Sometliing led a detective officer tu examine ber 
boat with unusual tborougbness. lie found 
tbat " false bips'' bad been built out upon ber 
sides, wbicb were filled witb commodities out- 
rageously contraband. The woman bad deceived 
every one. Ilcr simulation of a mother's agony 
and tears, sustained, too, for three weeks, was so 
perfect, that no one could doubt the reality of 
her emotions. Yet she was a professional 
smuggler. 

Some weeks later, a lady applied to Lieu- 
tenant Martin for a similar permit. Her chil- 
dren, too, were starving, almost within sight of 
their mother ; and, alas ! this was a genuine 
case. Here children ivere starving. She was a 
lady in every sense of the word, and she con- 
. vinccd the lieutenant of tlio perfect truth of ber 
story at the first interview. But he could only 
inform ber, that no passes were then issued, and 
that any application to the general on her behalf 
would bo useless. She came every day for a 
month, always hoping fur a relaxation of the 
rule. At length, the j'oung officer was so deeply 
moved by her distress, that be promised to dis- 
obey orders so far as to lay ber case before the 
general, and she might come the next day to 
learn the result. She came. Lieutenant Martin 
had the anguish of telling her that her applica- 
tion was necessarily refused, as her boat was 
certain to be seized if she crossed the lake. She 
turned pale as death, and fell senseless to the 
floor. Slie was carried to the nearest physician, i 
In half an hour she revived — a raving maniac. 
She has never known a gleam of reason to this 
day. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE NEGRO QUESTIOX — FIRST DIFFICULTIES. 

Louisiana has a population of about six hun- 
dred thousand. Before the war, there was a 
slight excess of whites over slaves, but when the 
Union troops landed at New Orleans, there was 
one slave in the state to every white person. 
Many of the parish( s contain twice as many 
slaves as whites ; some, tiiree times as many ; a 
few, four times as many; one has nine hundred 
white inhabitants to nearly nine thousand slaves. 
The marching of a Union column into one of 
those sugar parishes, was like thrusting a walk- 
ing-stick into an ant-hill — the negroes swarmed 
about the troo|)s, every soldier's gun and knap- 
sack carri'-d by a black man, exulting in the ser- 
vice. For, in some way, this great multitude df 
bondmen bad derived the impression that part of 
the errand of these troops was to set them free. 

The population of New Orleans was about one 
hundred and fifty thousand, of whom eighteen 
thousand were slaves and ten thousand free 
colored. The class last named is the result of 
that universal licentiousness which exists, neces- 
sarily, in every community where the number of 
slaves is large. In New Orleans, that licentious- 
ness was .systematized, and partook, in some de- 
gree, of the character of matrimony. The con- 
nections formed witb the quadroons and octo- 
roons were often permanent enough for the rear- 



ing of large families, some of whom obtained 
their freedcmi from tho afteetion of their father- 
master, antl received tho education he would 
have bestowed upon legitimate oli'spring. The 
class of free colored, therefore, includes a con- 
siderable number of wealthy, instructed, able, 
and estimable persons. They have been styled 
by competent observers, the richest class in New 
Orleans ; many having inherited large estates, 
and mauy carrying on lucrative business. One 
of them entertained General Butler at a banquet 
of seven courses, served on silver. 

The secret, darling desire of this class is to 
rank as human beings in their native city; or, 
as the giver of tho grand banquet expressed it, 
" No matter where I fight ; I only wish to 
spend what I have, and fight as l:)ng as I can, 
if only my boy may stand in the street equal to 
a white boy wlien the war is over. 

It is difficult for an inhabitant of the North to ' 
know how far such men as he were from the 
likelihood of ever enjoying the equality he craved. 
There M'as at the North a general, mild preju- 
dice against color, before tlie late riots in New 
York expelled the last vestige of it from the 
heart of every decent human being. But, at the 
South, the prejudice is so complete that tho 
people are not aware of its existence ; they 
fondle and pet their favorite slaves, and let their 
children play witb black children as with dogs 
and cats. The slightest taint of black blood in 
the superbest man, in the loveliest woman, one 
all radiant with golden curls and a blonde com- 
plexion, perfect in manners and abounding in 
the best fruits of culture, suffices to damn them 
to an eternal exclusion from the companionship 
of the people with whom they would naturally 
associate. The most striking illustration of the 
intensity of this abhorrence of African blood is 
tho well-known fact, that a white wife in New 
Orleans is not generally jealous of her husband's 
.slave mistress; and is frequently capable of con- 
soling herself by the reflection tbat the other 
family, in the next street, are worth a hundred 
dollars each on the day of their birth, and in- 
crease in value a hundred dollars a year during 
the first fifteen years of their lives. She does 
not recognize in the mother of those children a 
being that could, in any sense of the word, be a 
rival of a woman in whose veins flowed no 
African blood that was discoverable. The slave 
mistress, also, relieved the sickly white wife of 
the burden of child-bearing. This is southern 
prejudice against color. The prejuilice tbat pre- 
vailed at the North, before the recent scones re- 
vealed to every one its hellish nature, was base 
enough, and was strongest in the basest; but it 
was a trivial matter compared with the uncon- 
scious completeness of aversion that is observa- 
ble in the true southernor — the " original seces- 
sionist." 

There were a great many loose negroes about 
New Orleans when tho troops landed, slaves of 
masters iu the rebel army left to shift for them- 
.selves. A still larger number hired their time 
from their masters, and demonstrated that they 
could take care of themselves, besides contributing 
from sixty cents to a dollar and a half a day to 
tho maintenance of another famil3\ 

"These colored girls," sai'l a new-comer one 
day to a Union officer, " whom I see selling 
bouquets, nuts, oranges, cakes, candies, and 



THE NEGRO QUESTION— FIRST DIFFICULTIES. 



131 



small wares, on tho street corners, must save a 
great deal of money." 

These people," was the reply, " are merely 
the agents of tlair white masters and mistresses, 
who grow their flowers and oranges, make the 
bouquets, pies and candies, and send their slaves 
to sell them in the streets. If she is an apple or 
a violet short, the balance is struck on her back. 
Many of the people of New Orleans live, and liave 
lived for years, in this way." 

It is obvious to the most unreflecting person, 
that the negro question at New Orleans could 
not be disposed of, as at Fortress Monroe, by an 
epigram. Fortress Monroe was a Union island 
in a secession sea. Tho number of slaves in the 
vicinity was not great ; only nine hundred in all 
found their way to Freedom Fort; and every 
laborer who came in was one laborer lost to the 
rebel batteries. The duty of the commanding 
general was clear the moment the "epigram" 
occurred to his mind. But, in Louisiana, any 
considerable disturbance of the relations of labor 
to capital would have been a revolution far more 
revolutionary than any merely political change 
ever was. Suppose, for example, that all slaves 
coming into a Union camp had been received 
and maintained, as they were at the fortress. 
General Butler would have had upon his hands, 
in a month, in addition to the thirty thousand 
destitute whites, not less than fifty thousand 
blacks, for whom he would have had to provide 
food, shelter, clothing and employment; while 
the plantations from which the city was supplied 
with daily food would have Iain waste. The 
Fortress Monroe experience was, evidently, of 
no avail in dealing with the negro question at 
New Orleans. 

The instructions given by General McClellan 
to General Butler were silent on this most per- 
plexing subject. General Butler, however, had 
instructions with regard to it. On leaving Wasii- 
ington he was verbally informed by the president, 
that the government was not yet prepared to an- 
nounce a negro policy. They were anxiously 
considering the subject, and hoped, ere long, to 
arrive at conclusions. Meanwhile, he must 
"get along" with the negro question the best 
way he could ; endeavor to avoid raising insolu- 
ble problems and sharply defined issues ; and 
try to manage so that neither abolitionists nor 
" conservatives" would find in his acts occasion 
for clamor. This, however, only for a short 



negroes made their appearance — at Fort St. 
Pliilip, Fort Jackson, Carrollton, Algiers, Baton 
ilouge, and elsewhere. 

A new article of war forbade the return of 
these fugitives to their masters. What was to 
be done with them? Their labor in the city 
was not wanted ; there was a superabundance 
of white laborers. If they were entertained and 
encouraged, what was to prevent an overwhelm- 
ing irruption of blacks into every post? The 
whole negro population was in such a ferment, 
that only a slight misstep on the part of the com- 
manding general would have sufficed to reduce 
society to chaos. 

In these circumstances, the wise, the great, 
the splendid thing to do, was to declare all the 
slaves in Louisiana free, and put them all upon 
wages, leaving questions of compensation to 
loyal masters to be settled afterward. General 
Butler was capable of writing a general order 
that would have achieved this sublime revolu- 
tion with speedy advantage to every white and 
every black in the state. It was possible, it 
was feasible. It was, of all conceivable solutions 
of the problem, the most easy, the most simple, 
the most expeditious, the least costly, the least 
dangerous. But even if the general had not 
been restrained by instructions, this course was 
excluded even from consideration by the arrival 
of news, on the 9th of May, that General Hun- 
ter's proclamation of freedom to the slaves of 
South Carolina had been revoked by tho presi- 
dent. 

He was, therefore, shut up to this one course : 
To preserve, for the present, tho status in quo, 
minus as much of the cruelty and wrong of it as 
it might be in the power of the Union officers to 
prevent. To use Mr. Lincoln's expression, lie 
was obliged "to run the machine as he found 
it," with such slight and temporary repairs and 
modifications as could be hastily made. This was 
the policy adopted.. It was never announced, 
but it was the principle acted upon. 

Hence the negroes were not encouraged to 
come in to tho Union posts. As many as were 
required for public and private service were em- 
ployed, each officer being allowed one as a ser- 
vant. Several were assigned to the hospitals. 
General Butler himself was served by " General 
Twiggs's William." After some days had elapsed, 
negroes were no longer harbored in the Custom- 
House, and orders were issued that no more 



time. The moment the administration were pre- , should be admitted within the Union lines, or 
pared to announc^e a general policy with regard j into the Union camps. 

to the negroes, all generals commanding depart- j But negroes, as we have seen, were placed on 
ments would be notified, and required to pursue I an equality with white men before the law, and 
the same system. j allowed to testify against a white man in court. 

This sounded reasonably enough at Washing- | The whipping-houses were quietly abolished, and 
ton. It wore a very different aspect when it i the jailers notified that no more human beings 
had to be applied to the state of things in ) must be brought to the jails to be whipped. 



Louisiana. 

The difficulty began on the day after the land- 
ing of the troops, and became every day more 
formidable. &)me negroes came into the St. 
Charles hotel, penetrated to the quarters of stafl- 
officers, and gave information which proved to 
be valuable. Great numbers soon flocked into 
the Custom-House, pervading the numberless 
apartments and passages of that extensive edifice, 
all testifying the most fervent good-will toward 
the Union troops, all asking to be allowed to serve 
taem. Wherever there was a Union post. 



One of these jailers ventured to advertise, a few 
Aveeks after the capture of the city, that tho 
"law of Louisiana lor the correction of slaves 
would be enforced as heretofore." The attention 
of the general was called to this announcement, 
and Colonel Stafford was ordered to inquire into 
it. It was found that one slave had been brought 
in and whipped that morning: but there the fell 
business stopped. Whatever cruelty was com- 
mitted in New Orleans upon the slaves, was 
done in secret; no traffic in torture was al- 
lowed ; and every slave who asked redress for 



132 



THE NEGRO QUESTION— FIRST DIFFICULTIES. 



cruelties inflicted, and could give reasonable 
proof of the truth of his story, had redress — had 
11 promptly and fully. Major Bell judged such 
cases as he would have judged similar ones in 
Boston. General Butler never refused a black 
man admittance to his presence by day or by 
night, and never failed to do him justice when 
justice was possible. Tlic orders were, that 
whoever else might be excluded from head- 
quarters, no negro should ever be. One conse- 
quence was, that the general had a spy in every 
house, behind every rebel's chair as he sat at 
table. Another consequence was, that every 
slave in New Orleans had, at all times, a protec- 
tor from cruelty in the commanding general. 

The mere diminution of the slaves' awful rev- 
enue of torture was an unspeakable boon to 
them. Those hunkers used to hug the delusion, 
in the old party contests, that kindness was the 
rule and cruelty the rare exception, in the treat- 
ment of the slaves. As if despotism could be 
sustained by anything but cruelty ! They found 
that cruelty was the rule, and that such excep- 
tional kindness as is shown to favorite slaves, 
greatly increases the sum-total of their lifetime's 
misery. Slavery is all cruelty."" It was much 
to only lessen the vast, the incalculable, the in- 
conceivable amount of agony inflicted by the 
lash alone. Probably one whipping of thirty- 
nine lashes with the infernal cowhide inflicts 
more anguish than a respectable Massachusetts 
hunker has to endure during his whole life. 
What an instantaneous change of sentiment on 
present political issues would occur, all over the 
country, if thirty-nine arguments of that nature 
were addressed to the devotees of slavery who, 
whatever may be tlie metal of their heads, are 
not copper-backed. 

Some planters who had not the means of sup- 
porting their slaves, or of employing them prolit- 
ably, obliged them to go within the Union lines, 
trusting to reclaim them in better times. Tliis 
practice was stopped by declaring all such slaves 
emancipated, and giving tliem free papers. Sev- 
eral slaves were also emancipated who had been 
treated with extreme cruelly by their masters. 
The " star car" system was abolished. Colored 
people were formerly allowed to ride only in the 
street cars that were marked with a black star. 
General Butler required the admission of decent 
colored people into all the public vehicles. Some 

* Dr. Wesley Humphrey writes from Corinth, Missis- 
sippi. M.iy S.-), 1863. 

" I have been selectofl as the surgeon of the regiment 
of Africiin descent, now formiiifc here (not all black by 
any means), and during the past week had occasion to 
examine about seven hundred men in a nude ntute, 
preparatory to their being mustered into the United 
States .service, and I then saw evidences of abuse and 
maltreatment perfectly horrifying to rebate, and must 
be seen to fully understand the abuse to wliich they 
have been subjected. 1 think 1 am safe in saying tliat 
at least one-hiilfoi that number bore evidence of hav- 
ing been sevei-ely whipped and mnltreateil in vari- 
ous w.ays ; some were stabbed with a knife; others 
shot through the limbs; some pmindtd with clubs, un- 
til tlieir bones were broken. One man told me he had 
received for a triflinc offense two thousand laslies; and, 
upon examination, I found seventy-five scars upon his 
back and limbs, that rose above the skin the size of your 
finger, sayina nothing of tlie smaller ones. Others had 
the cords of their legs cut (hamstrings, as they call 
them), to prevent their running <>lf; and some were 
shot in resenting such insults. Those were witnessed 
by the colonel, J. M. Alexander, lieutenant-colonel, 
major, &c., of the regiment." 



of the police regulations with regard to the 
slaves were still enforced ; the rule requiring 
them to be at home by nine o'clock in the even- 
ing, for example. 

Such were some of the measures by which 
General Butler strove to "get along" with tliis 
hideous anomaly, while the president was feel- 
ing his way to a general policy, and waiting for 
the ripening of public opinion. General Butler, 
like the president himself, stood between two 
fires. One set of Unionists in New Orleans 
kept saying to him, as I read in their letters now 
before me : 

Return all fugitives to their masters ; show, 
by word and deed, that your sole object is the 
restoration of the old state of things ; and Louis- 
iana will return to the Union "in a month." 

Another party said : " No ; the original seces- 
sionists are incurable ; destroy their power by 
abolishing slavery; crush that insolent factioa 
utterly ; and Louisiana will hoist the old flag 
with enthusiasm." 

He could do neither of these things. An ar- 
ticle of war forbade the first ; the revocatioti of 
General Hunter's proclamation forbade the sec- 
ond. His struggle, meanwhile, to " get along" 
with a difficulty that would not wait for the 
tardy action of the government, brought him 
into painful and lamentable collision with Gen- 
eral Phelps, which resulted in the country's 
losing the services of that noble soldier. 

General Phelps was in command at Carroll- 
ton, seven miles above the city, the post of honor 
in the defensive cordon around New Orleans. " I 
found myself," he remarks, " in the midst of a 
slave region, where the institution existed in all 
its pride and gloom, and where its victims 
needed no inducement from me to seek the pro- 
tection of our flag — that flag which now, after a 
long interval, gleamed once more amid the dark- 
ling scene, like the effusion of morning light. 
Fugitives began to throng to our lines in large 
numbers. Some came loaded with chains and 
barbarous irons ; some bleeding with bird-shot 
wounds; many had been deeply scored with 
lashes, and all complained of the extinction of 
their moral rights. They had originally come 
chiefly from Maryland, Virginia, and North Car- 
olina, and were generally religious persons, who 
had been accustomed to better treatment than 
that which thej' experienced there." 

General Butler was aware of this influx of 
fugitives ; but, in obedience to the temporary 
policy enjoined upon him by the government, he 
took no notice of the fact. The vehement desire of 
General Phelps was, not merely to welcome and 
harbor tlie fugitives, but form them into military 
companies and drill them into serviceable soldiers, 
lie was grieved, therefore, when, on the 12th of 
May, General Butler requested him to place his 
able-bodied negroes under the direction of two 
planters of the vicinity, that they might be em- 
ployed in closing a break in the levee above 
Carrollton, which threatened a disastrous inun- 
dation. " You will see," wrote General Butler, 
" the need of giving them every aid in your 
power to save and protect the levee, even to 
returning their own negroes and adding others, 
if need be, to their three. This is outside of the 
question of returning negroes. You should send 
your own soldiers, let alone allowing the men 



GENERAL BUTLER AND GENERAL PHELPS. 



133 



who arc protecting us all from the Mississippi 
to have the workmen who are accustomed to 
this service." 

General Phelps did not "see" the need of 
sending back his fugitives. A positive order 
settled the question on the 23d of May : " In 
view of the disaster which might occur to us, in 
case a crevasse should occur above our lines, I 
have concluded to send a force of one hundred 
laborers, in charge of a guard, to attend to 
raising and guarding the levee above your lines. 
You will also place every able-bodied contraband 
within your camp in charge of Captain Page, the 
officer of this guard, to assist in this work." 
This was better, thought General Phelps, tlian 
consigning the negroes to the custody and direc- 
tion of their former masters. The order was 
obeyed, of course. 

Meanwhile, General Butler was besieged with 
complaints of the harboring of fugitives in Gen- 
eral Plielps's camp. All the complainants pro- 
fessed to be Union men ; some of them were 
such ; and most of them were the producers of 
vegetables for the New Orleans market. Besides, 
the harboring of the negroes involved the neces- 
sity of their maintenance, and invited the entire 
negro population to fly to the refuge of Union 
posts. It seemed to General Butler necessary 
to check the irruption before it became unman- 
ageable. The following order was therefore 
issued : 

New Obleans, May 23, 1862. 

" General : — You will cause all unemployed 
persons, black and white, to be excluded from 
your lines. 

" You will not permit either black or white 
persons to pass your lines, not officers and sol- 
diers or belonging to the navy of the United 
States, without a pass from tliese head-quarters, 
except they are brought in under guard as cap- 
tured persons, with information, and those to be 
examined and detained as prisoners of war, if 
they have been in arms against the United 
States, or dismissed and sent away at once, as 
the case may be. This does not apply to boats 
passing up the river without landing within the 
lines. 

" Provision dealers and marketmen are to be 
allowed to pass in with provisions and their 
wares, but not to remain over night. 

" Persons having had their permanent resi- 
dence within your lines before the occupation of 
our troops, are not to be considered unemployed 
persons. 

" Your officers have reported a large nutnber 
of servants. Every officer so reported employing 
servants will have the allowance for servants 
deducted from his pay-roll. 

"Respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

"B. F. Butler." 

*'Brig.-Gen. Phelps, Com. Camp Parapet. 

General Phelps was struck with horror at 
this command. The fugitives, however, were 
removed to a point just above the lines, where 
they found partial shelter, and lived on the 
bounty of the soldiers, who generously shared 
with them their rations. An event occurred on 
the 12th of June which brouglit on the cri.sis. 
On the morning of that day the negroes num- 
bered seventy-five ; but, withiu the next tweuty- 
four hours, the number was doubled. 



"The first installment," reported Major Peck' 
the officer of the day, "wore sent by a man 
named La Blanche, from the other side of th .■ 
river, on the night of the 13th, he giving them 
their choice, according to their statement, of 
leaving before sundown, or receiving fifty laslies 
each. Many of them desire to return to their 
master, but are prevented by fear of harsh treat- 
ment. They are of all ages and physical condi- 
tions — a number of infants in arms, many young 
children, robust men and women, and a large 
number of lame, old, and infirm of both sexea. 
The rest of them came in singly and in small 
parties from various points up the river within 
a hundred miles. They brought with them 
boxes, bedding and luggage of aU sorts, which 
lie strewn upon the levee and the open spaces 
around the picket. The women and children, 
and some feeble ones who needed shelter, were 
permitted to occupy a deserted house just out- 
side the lines. They are quite destitute of pro- 
visions, many having eaten nothing for days, 
except what our soldiers have given them from 
their own rations. In accordance with orders 
already issued, the guard was instructed to 
permit none of them to enter the lines. As each 
'officer of the day' will be called upon succes- 
sively to deal with the matter, I take the liberty 
to suggest whether some farther regulation in 
reference to these unfortunate persons is not ne- 
cessary to enable him to do his duty intelligently, 
as well as for the very apparent additional rea- 
sons, that the congregation of such large num- 
bers in our immediate vicinity affords inviting 
opportuuitj' for mischief to ourselves, and also, 
that unless supplied with the means of sustaining 
life by the benevolence of the military author- 
ities, or of the citizens (which is scarcely sup- 
posable), they must shortly be reduced to 
suflering and starvation, in the very sight of the 
overflowing store-houses of the government." 

General Phelps could endure this state of 
things no longer. He now wrote a paper on the 
subject for the president's own eye, which is one 
of the most pathetic, eloquent, and convincing 
pieces of composition which the war has pro- 
duced; a paper which anticipated, by many 
months, both the policy of the government, and 
the march of public opinion. Public opinion has 
now come up to it. The policy of the govern- 
ment is now the policy recommended by it. 

The government, however, being then reluc- 
tant to adopt General Phelps's radical system, 
and General Butler being but the servant of 
the government, the affair ended in General 
Phelps's resignation. 

The resignation was accepted by the govern- 
ment. He received notification of the fact on 
the 8th of September, and immediately prepared 
to return to his farm in Vermont. All of his 
command loved him, from the drummer-boys to 
the colonels, whether they approved or disap- 
proved his course on the negro question. He 
was such a commander as soldiers love ; firm, 
gentle, courteous; gentlest and most courteous 
to the lowliest ; with a vein of quaint humor 
that relieved the severity of military rule, and 
supplied the camp-gossips with anecdotes. His 
officers gathered about him, before his departure, 
to say farewell. He was touched with the com- 
pliment, for he had been accustomed, for twenty 
years, to live among his comrades in a lonely 



134 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE NEGROES. 



minority of one : respected, it is true, and be- 
loved, but beloved rather as a noble lunatic than 
as a wise and noble man. 

"Gentlemen," said he, in his fine, simple man- 
ner, '' I wish, earnestly, tiiat I were able to re- 
ply to you — that I had been gifted with the 
faculty or practiced in tlie habit of public speak- 
ing — so that 1 might make some fitting answer 
to the kind words which you have addressed to 
me ; so that I might express my gratitude for 
the feelinfrs which prompt you to come here. 
This is the greatest compliment I ever received 
in my life. Indeed, this is the only compliment 
of the kind I ever received. Lieuteuant-Colonel 
Lall traced out to you, in more flattering colors 
than the subject deserved, my military career, 
and you observed that it has almost all been on 
the frontier, or at small military posts, where I 
would naturally not come in contact with large 
social gatherings, so tliat I have never been ex- 
posed, even had I deserved it, to receive com- 
pliments like this which you offer me. There- 
fore it is that I now wish, for the first time, that 
I possessed the gift of utterance; and I assure 
you that I desire it solely because I am ex- 
tremely grateful for this expression of your re- 
gard. 

" So far as the motives which prompted me to 
the step which I have taken are concerned, I do 
not see any reason to regret it. My heart tells 
me that, under the circumstances, I did right in 
resigning my commission. But I do regret ex- 
ceedingly that its first consequence will be to 
separate me from your society. I am truly sorry 
to part with you. I was greatly struck — I was 
most favorably impressed — with your appear- 
ance, and bearing, and expression, when you 
arrived to re-enforce me at Sliip Island. I was 
touched when I thought I saw in your looks 
that you felt your true position ; that you realized 
that you had left your business and homes to 
fight in an extraordinarily just and holy war; 
that your souls were full of the motives which 
ought to move men who enter into a conflict for 
country and liberty. As I watched our division 
review there, I was more than ever impressed 
with this appearance of moral nobleness. I had 
seeu armies before, but never such an army as 
that ; never an army which know it had come out 
to fight for the highest principles of right, for the 
good of humanity, and for nothing else. 

" And here, in Louisiana, 1 have seen you 
growing up to be true soldiers. You have borne, 
worthily, sickness and exposure. You have 
carried your comrades every day to the grave, 
and yet you have not been discouraged, but 
have been patient, and cheerful, and assiduous 
in your duties. As I have watched this, I have 
learned to value and esteem you: and, there- 
fore, I am all the more grateful for the good- will 
which you show me. 

" Yet, I must not believe that this kind feeling 
has been aroused solely by what I am p^Tsonally. 
It must come chiefly from the fact that you look 
upon me as in some measui'o the exponent of a 
great and just cause. It is because you sympa- 
thize more or less with mo in my hatred of 
slavery. Perhaps some of you are not yet of my 
opinion. Perhaps the past has still a strong- 
hold upon your sentiments. But I firmly be- 
lieve — yes, 1 have a happy confidence — that, 
belbre another year is finished, your hearts will 



all be where mine is on this question. And let 
mo tell you that this faith is no small consolation 
for the trial of leaving you. 

" And now, with earnest wishes for your wel- 
fare, and aspirations for the success of the great 
cause for which you are here, I bid you good- 
by." 

When, at length, the government bad arrived 
at a negro policy, and was arming slaves, the 
president offered General Phelps a major-gen- 
eral's commission. He replied, it is said, that 
he would willingly accept the commission if it 
were dated back to the day of his resignation, so 
as to carry with it an approval of his course at 
Camp Parapet. This was declined, and General 
Phelps remains in retirement. I suppose the 
president felt that an indorsement of General 
Phelps's conduct would imply a censure of Gen- 
eral Butler, whose conduct every candid person, 
I think, must admit, was just, forbearing, mag- 
nanimous. 

We can not but regret that General Phelps 
could not have sympathized in some degree with 
the painful necessities of General Butler's posi- 
tion, and endeavored for a while to " get along" 
with the negro difiSculty at Camp Parapet, as 
General Butler was striving to do at New Orleans. 
We should remember, however, that General 
Phelps had been waiting and longing for twenty- 
five years, and he could not foresee, that, in six 
months more, the government would be as eager 
as himself in arming the slaves against their 
oppressors. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

GENERAL BUTLER ARMS THE FREE COLORED MEN, 
AND FINDS WORK FOR THE FUGITIVE SLAVES. 

Gexeral Phelps might have seen the dawn 
of a brighter day, even before his departure. 
General Butler himself could wait no longer for 
the tardy action of the government. Denied re- 
eulbrcements from the North, he had determined 
to "call on Africa" to assist him in defending 
New Orleans from threatened attack. The 
spirited assault upon Baton Rouge on the fifth 
of August, though it was so gallantly repulsed 
by General Williams and his connnand, was a 
warning not to be disregarded. A.11 the summer 
General Butler had been asking tor re-enforce- 
ments, pointing to the growing strength of 
Vicksbuig, the rising batteries at the new rebel 
post of Port Hudson, the inviting condition of 
Mobile, the menacing camps near New Orleans, 
the virulence of the secessionists in the city. 
The uniform answer from the war department 
was : "W'e cannot spare you one man ; we will 
send you men when we have them to send. 
You must hold New Orleans by all moans and 
at all hazards. 

So the General called on Africa. Not upon 
the slaves, but upon the fi'ce colored men of the 
city, whom General Jackson had enrolled in 
1814, and Governor Moore in 18G1. He sent 
for several of the most influential of this class, 
and conversed freely with them upon his project. 
Ho asked them why they had accepted service 
under the Confederate government, which was 
set up lor the distinctly avowed purpose of 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE NEGROES. 



135 



liolding in eternal slavery their brethren and 
kindred. They answered that they had not 
dared to refuse ; that they had hoped by serving 
the Confederates, to advance a little nearer to 
equality with wliites; that they louged to throw 
tlie weight of tlioir class into tlie scale of the 
Union, and only asked an opportunity to show 
their devotion to tlie cause with wliich their own 
dearest hopes were identitied. The general took 
them at tlieir word. The proper orders were 
issued. Enlistment offices were opened. Colored 
men were commissioned. Of tlae first colored 
regiment, all the field oflicers were white men, 
and all the line officers colored. Of the second, 
tho colonel and lieutenant-colonel alone were 
white men, and all the rest colored. For the 
third, the officers were selected without the 
slightest regard to color; the best men that 
offered w'ere taken, white or yellow. The two 
batteries of artillery were officered wholly by 
white men, for the simple reason that no colored 
men acquainted with artillery presented them- 
selves as candidates lor the commissions. 

The free colored men of New Orleans flew to 
arms. One of the regiments of a thousand men 
was completed in fourteen days. In a very few 
weeks, General Butler had his three regiments 
of infantry and two batteries of artillery en- 
rolled, equipped, officered, drilled and ready for 
service. Better soldiers never shouldered arras. 
They were zealous, attentive, obedient, and in- 
telligent. No men in the Union army had such 
n stake in the contest as they. Few understood 
it as well as they. The best blood in the South 
flowed in their veins, and a great deal of it ; for 
"the darke.st of them," said General Butler, 
" were about of the complexion of tho late Mr. 
Webster." At Port Hudson, in the summer of 
1863, these fine regiments, though shamelully 
despoiled of the colored officers to whom General 
Butler gave commissions, demonstrated to the 
whole army that witnessed their exploits, and to 
the whole country that read of them, their right 
to rank with the soldiers of the Union as bi'others 
in arms. 

This bold measure of General Butler — bold 
in 1862 — was not achieved without opposition. 
Public opinion, in New Orleans, was thus divided 
in regard to arnnng the free colored men : nearly 
every Union man in the city favored it ; every 
secessionist opposed it. Many of the Union 
officers had not yet traveled far enough away 
from old hunkerism to approve the measure, but 
a large minority of them warmly seconded their 
general There was but one breach of the peace 
in tho city in connection with the colored troops. 
A party of them wwe stoned by some low 
Frenchmen, who, it appears, received, at the 
hands of the assailed soldiers, prompt and con- 
dign punishment. Need I say, that the French 
consul complained to General Butler? The 
general set the consul right as to the facts of the 
case, and, at the same time, asked him '• to warn 
his countrymen against the prejudices they may 
have imbibed, the same as were lately mine, 
against my colored soldiers, because their race 
is of the same hue and blood as those of your 
celebrated compatriot and author, Alexander 
Dumas, who, I believe, is treated with the utmost 
respect in Paris." In fact, a majority of these 
colored soldiers are whiter men than Dumas. 

In November, the colored reariments were 



employed in the field, in an expedition upon the 
western bank of the river. Theywu'o not e!> 
gaged in actual conflict with the enemy, but tlieir 
conduct, on all occasions, was most exemplary 
and soldier-like. Tlieir presence in a region 
where there were ten slaves to one white man, 
was thouglit by General Weitzel to tend to pro- 
voke an insurrection. He was in so much dread 
of such an event, that he asked Genej-al Butler 
to relieve him of the command. 

General Butler, while continuing General 
Weitzel in his position, contrived to grutify him 
by placing the colored troops under anolher ofiQ- 
cer, one who believed in them. General Weit- 
zel, in acknowledging this complaisance, re- 
marked that if the colored troops, in action, 
proved only half as trustworthy as General But- 
ler thought them, the rebellion would most cer- 
tainly be crushed. 

General Weitzel has since had an opportunity'- of 
witnessing the conduct of colored troo[)S in battle. 
If he was not convinced by General Butler's rea- 
soning, he must have been convinced by what he 
saw of the conduct of these very colored regiments 
at Port Hudson, where he himself gave such a 
glorious example of prudence and gallantry. I 
may add, that the country owes the promolioa 
of this accomplished officer from the rank of lieu- 
tenant of engineers to that of brigadier-general 
of volunteers, to the discernment of Genei'al But- 
ler, wiio twice urged it on the war department. 
The heroic Strong was another of General But- 
ler's recommendations to the same rank. Few 
men would have ventured to ask such sudden 
advancement for officers not tliirty-two years of 
age. Fort Wagner and Port Hudson justified 
their almost unprecedented promotion. 

As the season advanced, the negro question 
did not dirainisli in difficulty. The number of 
fugitives constantly increased, until, in tlie city 
alone, there were ten thousand, many of whom 
were women and children, and all of whom were 
dependent upon the government for support. 
There were great numbers at Fort Jackson, Fort 
St. Philip and Camp Parapet. Many plantations 
had been abandoned by their owners, and the 
negroes remained in their huts idle and destitute. 
The conquests of General Weitzel greatly added 
to the number of abandoned and confiscated 
plantations, and set free thousands of slaves. 
From the starving country bordering on the 
lakes whole families of whites were continually 
coming to the city, sometimes bringing their 
slaves with them, sometimes leaving them be- 
hind to wander off to the nearest post. Society, 
as General Phelps had remarked, seemed on the 
point of dissolution, and General Butler saw be- 
fore him a prospect of having a countless host of 
white and black looking to him for their daily 
bread. 

He determined, in October, to take the re- 
sponsibility of working the abandoned ph-.uia- 
tions on behalf of the United States, tlieir right- 
ful owner, and of employing upon them his 
fugitive and emancipated slaves at fair wages. 
The first of his special orders relating to this 
matter has an historical interest and value : 

" New Orleans, Ocioher 20, 18C2. 

"Special Order, No. 441. 

"It appearing to the commanding general, 
that the sugar plantations of Brown & McMan- 



136 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE NEGROES. 



lius have been abandoned by their lato owners, 
who are in the rebellion, are now running to 
waste, and the vahiablo crops will bo lost, as 
well to the late owners as to the United States, 
if they are not wrouf!;ht; and as large numbers 
of negroes have conio and aie coming within the 
lines of ihc army, who need employment, it is 
ordered : 

" That Cliarles A. Weed, Esq., take charge of 
such plantations, and such others as may be 
abandoned along the river, between the city and 
Fort Jackson, and gather and make these crops 
for the benefit of the United States, keeping an 
exact and accurate account of the expenses of 
such. 

"That Mr. Weed's requisition for labor be an- 
swered by the several commanders of camps for 
labor; or, in the scarcity of contrabands, that 
Mr. Weed may employ white laborers at one 
dollar each per day, or each ten hours' labor. 

"That for any stores or necessaries for stich 
work the quartermaster's or commiss.iry's depart- 
ment will answer Mr. Weed's approved requisi- 
tions. 

" That said Weed shall be paid such rate of 
compensation as maybe agreed on ; and that all 
receipts of whatever nature from such plantations, 
be accurately accounted for by him ; and that 
for tills purpose Mr. Weed shall be considered 
in the military service of the United States. 
" By command of Major-General Butler. 

"Geokge C. Stkong, a. A. (?." 

But this was not all. Among the papers re- 
lating to the negroes of Louisiana, there is a doc- 
ument still more interesting. It contains the 
plan devised by tlie commanding genci'al for en- 
abling the loyal planters to give a trial to the 
system of fi'ee labor ; 

New Orleans, La., Ocioher IS, 1SG2. 

" Memorandum of an agreement, entered into 
between the planters, loyal citizens of tlie 
United States, in the parishes of ' St. Bernard ' 
and 'Plaquemines,' in the state of Louisiana, and 
the civil and military authorities of the United 
States in said state. 

" Whereas, many of the persons held to ser- 
vice and labor have loft their masters and claim- 
ants, and have come to the city of New Orleans, 
and to the camps of the army of the gulf, and are 
claiming to be emancipated and Iree; 

" And whereas, those men and women are in 
a destitute condition ; 

"And whereas, it is clearly the duty, by law, 
as well as in humanity, of the United States to 
provide them with food and clothing, and to em- 
ploy them in some useful occupation ; 

"And whereas, it is necessary that the crop 
of cane and cereals now growing and approach- 
ing maturity in said parishes shall bo preserved, 
and the levees repaired and strengthened against 
floods ; 

" And whereas, the planters claim that these 
persons are still held to service and labor, and 
of right ought to labor for their masters, and that 
the ruin of their crops and plantations will hap- 
pen if deprived of such services ; 

" And whereas, tiiese conflicting rights and 
claims can not immediately be determined by any 
txibtmals now existing in the state of Louisiana. 

" In order, therelore, to preserve the rights of 



all parties, as well those of the planters as of the 
persons claimed as held to service and labor, and 
claiming their freedom, and tliosc of the United 
States ; and to preserve the crops and property 
of loyal citizens of the United States; and to 
provide profitable employment at the rate of 
compensation fixed by act of congress for those 
persons who have come within the lines of the 
army of the United States, 

" It is agreed and determined, that the United 
States will employ all the persons heretofore held 
to labor on the several plantations in theparislies 
of St. Bernard and Plaquemines belonging to 
loyal citizens as they have heretofore been em- 
ployed, and as nearly as maj' be under the 
charge of the loyal planters and overseers of said 
parishes and other necessary direction. 

" The United States will authorize or provide 
suitable guards and patrols to preserve order and 
prevent crime in the said parishes. 

" The planters shall pay for tlio services of 
each able-bodied male person ten (101 dollars 
per month, three (3) of which may be expended 
ibr necessary clothing; and for each woman 

( — ) dollars ; and for each child above the 

ago often (10) years, and under the age of six- 
teen (16) years, the sura of ( — ) dollars ; 

all the persons above the age of sixteen years 
being considered as men and women for the pu im- 
pose of labor. 

" Planters shall furnish suitable and proper 
food for each of these laborers, and take care of 
them, and furnish proper medicines in case of 
sickness. 

" The planters shall also suitably provide for 
all the persons incapacitated by sickness or age 
from labor, bearing the relation of parent, child 
or wife, of the laborer so laboring fov him. 

" Ten hours a day shall be a day's labor ; and 
any extra hours during which the laborer may 
be called by the necessities of the occasion to 
work, shall be returned as so nmch toward 
another day's labor. Twenty-six days, of teu 
hours each, shall make a mouth's labor. It shall 
be the duty of the overseer to keep a true and 
exact account of the time of labor of each per- 
son, and anj' wrong or inaccuracy therein, shall 
forfeit a month's pay to the person so wronged. 

" Xo cruel or corporal punishment shall be 
inflicted by any one upon the person so labo- 
ring, or upon his or her relatives ; but any in- 
suboidination or refusal to perform suitable labor, 
or other crime or oflense, shall bo at once re- 
ported to the provost-marshal for the district, and 
punishment suitable for the oflense shall be in- 
flicted under his orders, preferably impiisoument 
in darkness on bread and water. 

" This agreement to continue at the pleasure 
of the United States. 

" If any planter of the parishes of St. Bernard 
or Plaquemines refuses to enter into this agree- 
ment or remains a disloyal citizen, the persons 
claimed to be held to service by him may hire 
thouhselves to any loyal planter, or the United 
States may elect to carry on his i)lantiition by 
their own agents, and other persons than those 
thus claimed may be hired by any planter at his 
election. 

"It is expressly understood and agreed that 
this arrangement shall not bo held to allecl, 
after its termination, the legal rights of eiiuer 
master or slave ; but that the question of free 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE NEGROES. 



13/ 



dom or slavery is to be determined by considera- 
tious wholly outside of the provisions of this 
contract, provided always, that the abuse by any 
master or overseer of any persons laboring under 
the provisions of tlys contract, shall, after trial 
and adjudication by the military or other courts, 
emancipate the person so abused." 

And, now, what were the results of the ex- 
periment ? We have explicit information on this 
point. 

Among those who heard of the startling inno- 
vation, none listened to llie tale with deeper in- 
terest than the president of the United States. 
Mr. Chase read to him one of General Butler's 
private letters upon the subject, and the presi- 
dent then wrote a note to the general, asking 
detailed information. The president was also 
curious to know something respecting the elec- 
tion of members of congress in Louisiana, then 
about to take place. General Buder replied in a 
letter, which the citizens of free Louisiana will 
consider historically important. 

" Our experiment," wrote the general, No- 
vember 28th, 18G2, "in attempting the cultiva- 
tion of sugar by free labor, I am happy to report, 
is succeeding admirably. I am informed by the 
government agent who has charge, that upon one 
of the plantations, where sugar is being made 
by the negroes who had escaped therefrom into 
our lines, and have been scut back under wages, 
that with the same negroes and the same ma- 
chinery, by free labor, a hogshead and a half 
more of sugar has been made in a day than was 
ever before made in the same time on the planta- 
tion under slave labor. 

" Tour friend, Colonel Shaffer, has had put up, 
to be forwarded to you, a barrel of tlie first sugar 
ever made by free black labor in Louisiana ; and 
the fact that it will have no flavor of tije degrading 
whip, will not, I know, render it less sweet to 
your taste. The planters seem to have been 
struck with a sort of judicial blindness, and some 
of them so deluded have abandoned their crops 
rather than work them with free labor. I 
offered them, as a basis, a contract, a copy of 
which is inclosed for your information. It was 
rejected hy many of tiieni, because they would 
not relinquish the riglit to use the whip, althougli 
I have provided a punishment for the refractory, 
by means of the provost-marshal, as you will 
Bee — imprisonment in darkness, on bread and 
water. I did not feel that I had a right, by the 
military power of tlie United States, to send 
back to be scourged, at the will of their former 
and, in some cases, infuriated masters, those 
black men who had fled to me for protection ; 
while I had no doubt of my right to employ them 
under the charge of whomsoever I might choose, 
to work for the benefit of themselves and the 
government. I have, therefore, caused the ne- 
groes to be informed that they should have the 
same rights as to freedom, if so tlie law was, on 
the plantation as if they were in camp ; and 
they have, in a great majority of instances, gone 
willingly to work, and work with a wiU. They 
were, at first, a little averse to going back, lest 
they should lose some rights which would come 
to them in camp ; but, upon our assurances, are 
quite content. 

"I think this scheme can be carried out with- 
out loss to the government, and I hope with 



profit enough to enable us to support, for six 
months longer, the starving wliites and blacks 
here, — a somewhat herculean task. 

" We are feeding now daily, iu the city of 
New Orleans, more than thirty-two thousand 
whites, seventeen thousimd of vvliom are British- 
born subjects, and mostly claiming British pro- 
tection; and only about two thousand of whom 
are American citizens, tlio rest being of the sev- 
eral nationalities who are represented hei'e from 
all parts of the globe. 

" Besides these, wo have some ton thousand 
negroes to feed, besides those at work on the 
plantations, principally women and children. 
All this has, thus far, been done without any 
draft upon the treasury, although how much 
longer we can go on, is a problem of which I 
am now anxiously seeking the solution. * * * 

" The operations of General Weitzel, in the 
Lafourche country, the richest sugar planting 
part of Louisiana, have opened to us a very large 
number of slaves, all of whom, under the act, 
are free ; and large croj^s of sugar, as well those 
already made, as those iu process of being made. 
* * * All this portion of the country are 
rapidly returning to their allegiance, and the 
elections are boing organized for Wednesday 
next, and I doubt not a large vote will be 
thrown. 

" I bound Dr. Cotman not to be one of the 
candidates iu the field. lie had voluntarily 
signed the ordinance of secession as one of the 
convention which passed it, and had sat for his 
portrait in the cartoon which was intended to 
render those signers immortal, and which was 
published and exhibited here in imitation of the 
picture of our signers of the declaration of inde- 
pendence; and as the doctor had never, by any 
public act, testified his abnegation of that act of 
signing, I thought it would be best that the 
government should not be put to the scandal of 
having a person so situated elected, although 
the doctor may be a good Union man now. So 
I very strongly advised him against the candi- 
dature. It looked too much like Aaron Burr's 
attempt to run for a seat in parliament, after he 
went to England to avoid his complication in 
the Mexican affairs and ins combat with Hamil- 
ton. It is but fair to say that Doctor Cotman, 
after some urging, concluded to withdraw hia 
name from the canvass. Two unconditional 
Union men will be elected. I fear, however, 
we shall lose Mr. Bouligny. He was imprudent 
enough to run for the office of justice .of peace 
under the secessionists, and althougli I believe 
him always to have been a good Union man, 
and to have sought that office for personal 
reasons only, yet that fact tells against him. 
However, Mr. Flanders will be elected in his 
district, and a more reliable or better Union 
man can not be found. 

" But to return to our negroes. I find this 
difficulty in prospect : Many of the planters 
here, whUe professing loyalty, and I doubt not 
feeling it, if the ' institution' can be spared to 
them, have agreed together not to make any 
provision this autumn for anotlier crop of sugar 
next season, hoping thereby to throw upon us 
this winter an immense number of blacks, with- 
out employment and without any means of sup- 
port for the future ; the planters themselves liv- 
ing upon what they made from this crop. Thu^;, 



138 



GENERAL BUTLER AND THE NEGROES. 



no provision being made for the crop citlier of 
corn, potatoes, or cereals, tlie govcrunient will 
be obliged to come to their terms for the future 
employrneut of the negroes, or to be at enormous 
expenses to support them. 

'' We shall have to meet this as best we ma}'. 
Of course, wo are not responsible for what may 
be done outside of our lines, but here I sliall 
make what provision I can for the future, as 
well for tlio cereal aud root crop as the cane. 
We shall endeavor to get a stock of cane laid 
down on all the plantations worked by govern- 
ment, and to preserve seed corn and potatoes to 
meet this contingency. 

" I shall send out my third regiment of Native 
Guards (colored), aud set them to work preserv- 
ing the caue and roots for a crop next year. 

" It can not be supposed that this great 
change in a social and political system can be 
made without a shock ; and I am only surprised 
that the possibility opens up to me that it can 
be made at all. Certain it is, and I speak the 
almost universal sentiment and opinion of my 
officers, that slavery is doomed! I have no 
doubt of it; and with every prejudice and early 
teaching against the result to which my mind 
has been irresistibly brought by my experience 
here, I am now convinced: 

" 1st. Thit labor can bo done in this state by 
whites, and more economically than by blacks 
and slaves. 

" 2d. That black labor can be as well gov- 
OTuod, used, and made as profitable in a state of 
freedom as in slavery. 

" 3d. That while it would have been better 
could this emancipation of the slaves bo gradual, 
yet it is quite feasible, even under this groat 
change, as a governmental proposition, to organ- 
ize, control, aud work the negro with profit and 
safety to ttie white ; but this can be best done 
under military supervision." 

'■ .Slavery is doomed 1" So says General Roso- 
crans, also. So says the reticent and modest 
General Grant. So says, I believe, every officer 
who has served in the heart of a slave state. 
We shall see, in a moment, by what moans the 
true nature of slavery was brought home to the 
mind of General Butler, so that he not only fore- 
saw, but exulted in the downfall of the insti- 
tution. 

The perfect behavior of the black men iu their 
new cliaracter of free laborers has been often re- 
marked. A whole book full of testimony on this 
point could be adduced. If it be objected that 
General Butler had too short an experience of 
his system to be able to judge its results, we 
can point to the testimony of men now in Louis- 
iana, who have observed the working of the free- 
labor system for more than a year. One highly 
intelligent gentleman has recently written from 
New Orleans: 

" No one has properly noticed bow well the 
slaves in the South have maintained their diffi- 
cult positioQ. From the commencement up to 
this time they have in no instance called upon 
their heads tlio indignation of their masters by 
any impudent expression or untimely outbreak. 
Whenever our forces have afforded them an op- 
portunity to break their bonds, they have done 
it promptly and efficiently ; but they have, with 
rare prudence, not involved themselves in dilfi- 
# culties which would be fruitless of Bubstantial 



good to their interests. This conduct on their 
part, it seems to me, exhibits a largo amount of 
intellectual ability ; for they have had the intel- 
ligence, while thoroughly understanding the na- 
ture of the revolution goin^on around tliem, of 
heartily sympathizing with the enemy ; yet they 
have been secretive enough to keep their real 
opinions in their own hearts until the proper 
time came to give thorn utterance. I know of 
no people who, under tire circumstances, could 
have acted better or wiser."* 

The president's proclamation of freedom, which 
took effect January 1st, 1863, suggested to Gen- 
eral Butler's fertile genius a measure which, it 
is greatly to be deplored, he had not time to 
carry out before his sudden recall. The proc- 
lamation, it will be remembered, exempted from 
emancipation certain parishes of Louisiana, which 
were already iu the possession of the United 
States. It was well known to General Butler 
that a large proportion of the slaves in those 
parishes belonged to foreign-born " neutrals," 
whose sympathy with secession had given him 
so much trouble. It occurred to him to inquire 
whether, by French law, those Frenchmen could 
hold slaves in a foreign country. Consulting 
with a French jurist on the subject, he received 
from him a statement respecting the law of the 
French empire, which showed that no French 
citizen can lawfully hold slaves iu any pare of 
the world. 

English law forbade the owning of slaves by 
British subjects, under heavy penalties. The 
confiscation act emancipated the slaves of rebels. 
So that, while the proclamation of January 1st 
appeared to retain in servitude eighty-seven 
thousand slaves in Louisiana, General Butler 
deemed it feasible, by enforcing the laws of 
France and England, and by the complete exe- 
cution of the confiscation act, to give freedom to 
nearly the whole number of these eighty-seven 
thousand slaves. Probably not more tlian seven 
thousand of the eighty-seven thousand were the 
property of loyal citizens. The rest were free 
by the laws of France, England, or the United 
States. While he was considering the best 
means of bringing these laws to bear in "ex- 
tending the ai'ea of freedom," the coming of his 
successor was announced by rebel telegraph, 
straight from the recesses of the French loi;ation 
at the city of Washington. I should add. that 
the British consul. Mi'. Coppell, who now ap- 
peared to be on friendly terms with the com- 
manding general, entered wai'mly into the half- 
formed sehemc. 

I shall take leave of this subject by relating 
several anecdotes illustrative of the practical 
working of slavery in Ijouisiana, and of the man- 
ner in which the system presented itself there to 
the hunker mind. Most of these stories I had 
the pleasure of hearing General Butler himself 
relate. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 
SPECIMEN OP THE PROVOST COURT SLAVE OASEa 

John Montamal, a free man of color, married 
a colored woman, who was a slave. Both were 



> New York Times, October, 1S63. 



EEPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



139 



light mulattoes. From the savings of a small ' 
business, ho bought his wife for six hundred 
dollars, so that he stood to her in the relation 
of proprie(or as well as husband, and his chil- 
dren were his slaves. Their only surviving child, 
when the Union troops arrived, was an intelli- 
gent girl eleven j'ears old, who had been sent 
to school and had been received into the Catholic 
church. The father falling into misfortune owing 
to the troubled times, in an evil hour mortgaged 
his daughter to his creditors, trusting to be able 
to redeem her in time to prevent her from being 
sold. Tlie continuance of the war frustrated his 
plans ; the mortgage was foreclosed ; the child 
was sold at auction by the sheriff. In this sad 
extremity, he came before the provost court, and 
asked the restoration of his daughter. The case 
was ably argued by counsel. Colonel Kinsman, 
who was then filling the place of provost judge, 
decided that the girl was free, and gave her 
back to her parents. This decision was mani- 
festly contrary to the laws of Louisiana, which 
would have doomed the girl to slavery. But 
Colonel Kinsman agreed with his predecessor, 
Major Bell, that when Louisiana went out of the 
Union she took her black laws with her. 

Tliis is the mere outline of the story, which, 
fully related, would furnish the material for an 
Uncle Tom novel. Readers can understand it 
who have imagination enough to apply the 
situation to a favorite child, sister, niece, or ward 
of their own. 

SPECIMEN LETTER FROM A SLAVE TO THE COM- 
MANDING GENERAL. 

" New Orleans, Jii/ne ISiA, 1862. 
"General Butler — Dear Sir: — 

'• I am reputed the natural son of one Thomas 
Thornhill, an aristocratic cotton merchant of this 
city, an officer in the rebel army, recently killed 
in one of the battles in Virginia. 

" My mother, my sister and myself are claimed 
as slaves by George Hawthorne, of this city, who 
has been a soldier in the rebel army from its 
first organization, and is now in that army near 
llichmond. Our wages are used for his benefit. 

" He has given a power of attorney to one J. 
A. Banorres, his mistress in this city, to sell, hire, 
or dispose of us at her pleasure. "We were not 
slaves for life, but to serve bis lifetime by the 
will of his mother. 

" Will your honor save us from perpetual 
slavery ? 

" Respectfully, 

" Your humble servant, 

" ViRGiNius Thornhill." 

Cases of this kind were uniformly investigated. 
If the slave established his legal right to feedom, 
he w^as declared free. 

GENERAL BUTLER ON THE FUGITIVE SLAVE 
QUESTION. 

Visitor. — " General, I wish you w^ould give 
me an order to search for my negro." 

" Have you lost your horse ?" 

"No, sir." 
^ " Have you lost your mule ?" 

"No, sir." 

" "Well, sir, if you had lost your horso or your 
mule, would you come and ask me to neglect my 



duty to the government, for the purpose of as- 
sisting you to catch them?" 

" 01' course not." 

" Then why should you expect me to employ 
myself in hunting after any other article of your 
property ?" \_Exii Visitor. 

convict's chilure.n. 

In the state prison at Baton Rouge were 
found several children born in prison of female 
colored convicts. By the laws of Louisiana, 
these children were the property of the state, 
doomed to be sold as slaves to the highest 
bidder. The new superintendent, Moses Bates, 
applied to the general for orders with regard to 
them. "I certainly can not sanction," wrote 
General Butler, " any laws of the state of Loui- 
siana, which enslaved any children of female 
convicts, born in the State prison. Their place 
of birth is certainly not their fault. You are, 
therefore, to take such care of tiiem as would be 
done with other destitute children. If these 
cliildren were born of female convict slaves, 
possibly the master miglit have some claim, but 
I do not see how the state can have any." 

an anecdote which THE LATE RIOTERS AND 
THEIR FRIENDS WILL REGARD AS A GOOD 
JOKE. 

General Butler had a dandy regiment in New 
Orleans — one a little nicer in uniform and per- 
sonal habits than any other; and so ably com- 
manded, that it had not lost a man by disease 
since leaving New England. One day the colo- 
nel of this fine regiment came to head-quarters, 
wearing the expression of a man who had some- 
thing exceedingly pleasant to communicate. 
It was just before the fourth of July. 

" General," said he, " two young ladies have 
been to me — beautiful girls — who say they have 
made a set of colors for the regiment, which they 
wish to present on the fourth of July." 

"But is their father willing?" asked the gen- 
eral, well knowing what it must cost two young 
ladies of New Orleans, at that early time, to 
range themselves so conspicuously on the side of 
the Union. 

" Oh, yes," replied the colonel ; " their father 
gave them the money, and will attend at the 
ceremony. But have you any objection ?" 

"Not the least, if their father is wiUing." 

" Will you ride out and review the regiment 
on the occasion ?" 

" With pleasure." 

So, in the cool twilight of the evening of the 
fourth, the general, in his best uniform, with 
chapeau and feathers, worn tlien for the first 
time in New Orleans, reviewed the regiment, 
amid a concourse of spectators. One of the 
young ladies made a pretty presentation, to 
which the gallant colonel handsomely replied. 
The general made a brief address. It was a 
gay and joyful scene ; everything passed off 
with the highest tclat, and was chronicled with 
all the due editorial flourish in the Delta. 

Two days after, the young ladies addressed a 
note to the regiment, of which the following is 
a copy : 

" New Orleans, July 5, 1862. 

" Gentlemen : — "We congratulate and thank 
you all for the manner in which you have received 



140 



REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



our flag. Wo did not expect such a reception. 
"We oflcred tlic flag to you as a gift, from our 
hearts, as a reward to your noble conduct. 13o 
assured, gentlemen, that that day will bo 
always present in our minds, and that we will 
never forget that we gave it to the bravest of 
the brave ; but if ever danger threatens your 
heads, rally under that banner, call again your 
courage to defend it, as you have promised, and 
remember that those from whom you received 
it will help you by their prayers to win the 
palms of victory and triumph over your enemies. 

" We tender our thanks to General Butler for 
lending his presence to the occasion, and for his 
courtesies to us. May he continue his noble 
work, and ere long may we behold the Union 
victorious over his Ibes and reunited throughout 
our great and glorious country. Very respect- 
fully." 

A few days later, an officer of the regiment 
came into the office of the commanding general, 
his countenance not clad in smiles. He looked 
like a man who had seen a ghost, or like one 
who had suddenly heard of some entirely crush- 
ing calamity. 

" General," he gasped, "we have been sold. 

TUET WERE KEGROESi" 

" "What ! Those lovely blondes, with blue 
eyes, and light hair? Impossible !" 

" General, it's as true as there's a heaven above 
us. The whole town Ls laughing at us." 

" W'ell," said the general, " there's no harm 
done. Say nothing about it. I suppose we 
must keep it, out of the papers, and hush it up 
as well as wo can." 

They did not quite succeed in keeping it out 
of the papers, for one of the " foreign neutrals " 
of the city sent an account of the affair to the 
Courier des Etais Unis^ in New York, with the 
inevitable French decorations. 

Comment suppressed. 

TUE STORY OF JEFF, NOW A LOWELL BARBER. 

A young lawyer of New Orleans came one day 
to head-quarters with a petition. 

" General," said he, "you have a favorite body- 
servant of niiiio, a mulatto man, named Jeff. 
One of your surgeons has him at the hospital. 
I am used to the fellow — he is a great favorite — 
had him ten years — can't do without him. Let 
me have him, and I will give you another man 
as good for your purpose as he is." 

The general referred him to Surgeon Smith, 
who had the man. If the surgeon was willing, 
and Jeff was willing, the general had no objection. 
"With a note to this effect from the general to the 
surgeon, the lawyer departed. 

Soon after, surgeon Smith came hurrying to 
head-quarters with a very different version of 
the story. Jeff, he said, was no body-servant, 
but a barber, who had hired his time from his 
master at forty dollars a mouth. " He shaved 
me in his shop when we landed," added the 
doctor. Every one in New Orleans knows him 
as a barber here, established for many years. 
His master only wants his forty dollars a month." 

These facts being established, General But- 
IcT expressed himself upon the sulyect to the 
owner of this barber, in what Mr. Dickens styles 
" the English language." Jeflf remained at the 
hospital. 



A few days afler, word was brought to the 
general, that Jeff, bearing free papers as a ser- 
vant of the United States, had been seized in the 
streets, had been overpowered after a desperate 
fight, thrust into a carriage, and driven off to 
Foster's slave pen. 

'■ Bring Foster here." 

Foster was brought. Ho said tliat Jeff had 
remained at his pen only for an hour, and had 
then been carried off, he knew not where. The 
general notified him that the bu.-iincss of slave- 
pen keeping was obsolete in New Orleans, and 
warned him against attempting to continue it. 
The detective force was ordered to produce Jeff 
at their very earliest convenience. No trace of 
him, however, could be discovered that day, nor 
during the night. 

The next morning, the captain of a gun-boat, 
stationed below the city, reported that a man 
had swam off to his vessel at daybreak, in irons, 
calling himself Jeff, who said that he had been 
kidnapped in New Orleans, and taken to a plan- 
tation, where a blacksmith had ironed him, and 
he had been chained in a garret all night, from 
which he had escaped by the aid of a file. 
Jell' himself soon arrived, and related his adven- 
tures. It was his master, he said, who had 
seized, carried off, and chained him. 

For this offense the master was tried and sen- 
tenced to two years in the parish prison. 

After these events, Jeff' was made nnich of by 
the officers of the hospital ; was trusted, at length, 
with the keys of the store-closets ; which trust 
he variously abused, often getting drunk upon 
the hospital liquors. Hence, after many refor- 
mations and relapses, Jeff found himself an in- 
mate of the same parish prison in which his mas- 
ter was confined. 

It now occurred to the legal mind of the mas- 
ter that Jeff, being a prisoner, could no longer 
be considered under the protection or in the ser- 
vice of the United States. He ventured, there- 
fore, to sell his barber. When Jeff's term of im- 
prisonment had expired, the general received 
information that he had vanished again, and 
could nowhere be found. He sent for the master. 

" Take your choice," said the general : " Pro- 
duce Jeff, or live on bread and water till you do." 

Bread and water did not agree with the lux- 
urious constitution of a man accustomed to live 
upon the wages of a barber. Finding himself 
growing thin upon that austere diet, he soon 
gave the information desired, and Jeff was again 
restored to freedom. The purchaser was con- 
demned to thirty days' imprisonment for buying 
a free man. 

Jeff, being then removed from temptation, be- 
haved so well that General Butler took him into 
his own service ; in which he was at the time of 
the general's return home. Knowing well what 
would befall Jeff if he were left to the tender 
mercies of his master, he brought him to the 
North, where he is established in his old occupa- 
tion. 

CURIOUS ENTRY. 

The patriotic ex-hunkers who edited the loyal 
Ddta, upon looking over the old books of the 
concern, found this entry in one of them : 

""Whipping Wade, two dollars." Wade was 
the respectable porter of the establishment. 



REPEBSENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



141 



A COLORED SOLDIER IN TROUBLE. 

Soon after the colored regiments had been 
raised, a provost officer, wlio augured the worst 
results from the arming of negroes, came to head- 
quarters with a story that was strongly confir- 
matory of his forebodings. One of the negro sol- 
diers, ho said, had killed his former master with 
a bayonet. 

" I'm afraid it will never ^o, general," said he, 
"this arming of the blacks. I have always said 
so, and here is the proof of it." 

Soon after came a long letter from the British 
consul, detailing the case; Mr. Montgomery, the 
wounded man, being a British subject. " It ap- 
pears," wrote Mr. Coppel, " that the colored man, 
John Andrew, a dark mulatto, twenty-two years 
of age, formerly owned by Mrs. Montgomery, 
was in the city on Saturday and Sunday last 
on furlough ; that he called twice at Mr. Mont- 
gomery's house; that when there the second 
time, Montgomery saw him, and told him not to 
come there again ; whereupon, Andrew drew the 
bayonet at liis side, rushed upon Mr. Montgom- 
ery, and stabbed him in the left breast, at the 
same time using abusive and obscene language, 
and threatening that if Montgomery approached 
him he would kill him. Fortunately, the wound 
is not a serious one, and, soon after the occur- 
rence, Mr. ilontgomery was able to take steps 
to have Andrew arrested. Colonel French kindly 
allowed an officer to accompany Mr. Montgomery 
to the Opelousas railroad station this morning, 
but ho was unable to find Andrew in the crowd. 
Unable to give definite information of the com- 
pany or regiment to which John Andrew belongs, 
beyond that already stated, and that on the 13 th 
ult. he dated an insulting letter to Mrs. Mont- 
gomery from Lafourche Crossing, I feel convinced 
that you will deem the crime one that will call 
forth such exertions as will lead to his speedy 
arrest and punishment." 

The case looked black enough for poor John 
Andrew. Alas ! for him, if such a complaint 
had been entered against him in the good old 
days when a dark mulatto had no rights which 
an Englishman of any complexion was bound to 
respect. 

John Andrew was summoned to head-quar- 
ters. He came, accompanied by his captain, 
who gave him the highest character. Such had 
been the excellent conduct of the man since he 
had enlisted, and such was his capacity and in- 
telligence, that tliough he could not read, he had 
been made a corporal. Mr. Montgomery was 
present, and told his story. Mr. Coppell was 
there to support his countryman. 

"Now, Andrew," said the general, "state 
exactly what occurred. Tell rae tiie truth, and 
all the truth." 

" I will, general," said he. " I went to the 
camp and joined the regiment. When I had 
been away two weeks, I came back to see my 
sister, who is cook in master's house. I saw 
master as I passed, sitting at the front door. As 
I was talking with my sister at the back gate, I 
heard ihe liont door slam, and thinking master 
was coming, and not wishing to get my sister 
into trouble, I walked away. I heard him 
calling me, but I kept on, as though I had not 
heard liim. I walked on," said Andrew with 
flashing eyes, and the mien of a prince, " be- 



cause no man has a right to stop n United States 
soldier, except his officer. ' Stop, or I'll blow 
your brains out,' said master. I turned, and 
saw that he had a revolver aimed at me. I 
drew my bayonet, and made one pass at him. 
He then turned and went into the house, and I 
walked away." 

This was Andrew's story. 

"Now, Mr. Montgomery," said the general, 
" tell us precisely what part of the man's story is 
not true." 

"Well," said he, " I was sitting at my front 
door, reading the paper, and heard Andrew talk- 
ing to my cook. I took a pistol to drive hira 
away." 

" But why take a pistol, and why drive him 
away ?" asked the general. " As a British sub- 
ject you can hold no slave." 

" I did not want him there," said this lying 
coward, " talking with my cook. He had sent 
my wife an insulting letter." 

" What was the letter? Produce it." 

The letter, which Andrew had got one of his 
comrades to write for him, proved to be one of 
the most friendly and respectful character. It 
began thus : " Dear Mistress : I take my pen in 
hand to let you know that I am well, and hope 
you are the same. I was sorry to part from 
you," etc., etc. There was not a word in it 
'which was not respectful or affectionate. 

Witnesses of the affray confirmed the truth of 
Andrew's story. 

"My judgment is," said the general to the 
consul, " that Andrew served him right. I see 
nothing to blame in his conduct, except that he 
did not strike hard enough ; and if your friend 
wishes anything more done in connection with 
this case, we'll try him on a charge of assault 
with intent to kill." 

Montgomery expressed no desire for farther 
proceedings, and the case was dismissed. An- 
drew returned to his regiment in triumph. 

ANECDOTE SHOWING THE GOOD DISPOSITION OP 
THE EMANCIPATED NEGROES, AND THE PERFECT 
SAFETY OP IMMEDIATE ABOLITION. 

Major Strong received from an officer com- 
manding an expedition, the following letter early 
in November. 

" In still farther confirmation of what I wrote 
you, in my dispatch this morning, relative to 
servile insurrection, I have the honor to inform 
you, that, on the plantation of Mr. David Pugh, 
a short distance above here, the negroes, who 
had returned under the terms fixed upon by 
Major-General Butler, without provocation or 
cause of any kind, refused this morning, to work, 
and assaulted the overseer and Mr. Pugh, in- 
juring them severely ; also a gentleman who 
came to the assistance of Mr. Pugh. Upon the 
plantation, also, of Mr. W. J. Miner, on the Ter- 
rebonne road, about sixteen miles from here, an 
outbreak has already occurred, and the entire 
community thereabout are in hourly expectation 
and terror of a general rising." 

Investigation ensued, which established the 
facts that follow : 

Senator Pugh's negroes, when the Union 
troops possessed the Lafourche country, were 
among those who came pouring into the Union 
camp, and who had returned to their work 



142 



REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



under a promise of protection in all tlieir riglits, 
and a fair sliare of tiie proceeds of tlicir labor. 
One raorning, when the negroes were assenii/ied 
a3 usual, to go to the field, one of them left the 
line and ran toward his cabin. 

" Come back," shouted the overseer, in the 
old, brutal tone of command. 

" I'm only going after my coat," said the man. 

He went" to his cabin, got his coat, and re- 
joined the gang before it started. 

The next morning, when the negroes were 
again drawn up, before going to their work, 
Pugh himself came on tlie ground, when the 
overseer said to him, pointing out the negro: 

" There's the damned rascal who was impu- 
dent to me yesterday morning" 

Pugh, forgetting that old things had passed 
away in Lafourche, b^'gan to belabor the negro 
over the head with his walking stick. The ne- 
gro, who had a better memory, resisted, and de- 
fended himself. The overseer came to the assist- 
ance of his employer. The other negroes joined 
in the fra}'-, and, in a very few secouds, the two 
white men found liiemselves flat on the ground, 
each held down by half a dozen stout negroes. 

What any other gang of laboring men, except 
negroes, would have done next in such circum- 
stances, we all know ; the savage Pugh and his 
lying overseer would have received the punish- 
ment due to their insolence and brutality. These 
negroes, unmoved by the memory of a thousand 
wrongs, carefully bound the two prostrate men, 
hand and foot; made two litters ; placed them 
gently upon the litters; and, conveying them in 
silence to the nearest Union camp, laid them 
down before the tent of the commandiug officer, 
and waited patiently there, cap in liand, to relate 
the occurrences which justified their novel pro- 
ceedings. The most rigorous examination of 
both parties only proved that the negroes had 
told their story witli religious exactness. The 
general justified and applauded the course they 
had taken, and gave them the protection needed 
in the circumstances. 

Forbearance less meritorious than that shown 
by these poor negroes has been styled sublime, 
and no one has questioned the propriety of the 
epithet. 

THE KIND OP MAN THAT COULD ONCE BE 
ELECTED A JUDGE IN NEW ORLEANS. 

John G. Cocks is his name — Cocks, John G. 
He is the individual, to whom allusion has before 
been made in these pages, whose property Gen- 
eral Butler seized in behalf of Major Anderson. 
At the beginning of the rebellion this Cocks, 
Judge Cock.s, published in the New Orleans 
Picayune an impudent letter to Major Anderson. 

A PROPOSITION TO M.UOR ANDERSON, 

" New Orleans, 3lay 16, 1861. 
" Major RORT. Anderson, 

" Late of Fort Sumter, S. C. : 
" Sir : — You hold my three notes for $4,500 
each, with about $1,000 accumulated interest, 
all due in the month of J^larch, 18G2, which 
notes were given in part payment of twenty- 
nine negroes, purchased of you in March, 1860. 
As I consider fodr play a jetvel, I take this 
method to notify you that I will not pay these 



notes ; but as I neither seek nor wish an advan- 
tage, I desire that you return me the notes and 
the money paid }'ou, and the negroes shall be 
subject to your order, which you will find much 
improved by kind treatment since they came 
into my possession. 

" I feel justified in giving you, and the public, 
this notice, as I do not consider it fai>- piny that 
I should be held to pay for the very property 
you .so opportunely dispossessed yourself of, and 
now seek to destroy both their value and useful- 
ness to me. I ask no more than to cancel the 
sale, restore to you your property, and let each 
assume his original position ; then your present 
efforts m.ay be considered less selfish, because at 
your expense, and not mine. 

"John G. Cocks." 

General Butler, in pursuance of his system of 
redressing the wrongs of Union men, seized the 
large estates of .Tudge Cocks, and held them for 
the future liquidation of Major Anderson's claim. 
Cocks justly thinking that New Orleans, under 
the rule of General Butler, was no fit place for 
him to reside in, vanished soon after into the 
congenial shades of Secessia. 

A few days after his departure, a young wo- 
man sought an interview with Mrs. Butler, to 
whom many women came at that time, to relate 
their wrongs. So many women, indeed, re- 
sorted to her for that purpose, that at length it 
was found necessary to close that door to the 
commanding general's attention. The young 
woman who came to her on this occasion was a 
perfect blonde, her hair of a light shade of brown, 
her eyes " a clear, honest gray," her complexion 
remarkably pure and delicate, her bearing modest 
and refined, her language that of an educated 
woman. It has been often remarked that the 
women of the South, who have been made tho 
victims of a master's brutal lust, escape moral 
contamination. Their souls remain chaste. This 
woman, so fair to look upon, so engaging in her 
demeanor, so refined in her address, was a slave, 
the slave of Judge Cocks. She told her incredi- 
ble story — incredible until superabundant tes- 
timony compelled the most incredulous to be- 
lieve. 

She said that Judge Cocks was her father as 
well as her master. At. an early age she had 
been sent to school at New York, tho school of 
the Mechanics' Institute, in Broadway. When 
she was fifteen years of age, her father came to 
New York, took her from school to his hotel, 
and compelled her to live with him as his 
mistress. She became the mother of a child, 
of whom her master was father and grand- 
(lither. 

" I am now twenty-one," said she, " and I am 
the mother of a boy five years old, who is mj 
father's son." 

Cocks took her home with him to New Or- 
leans, where ho continued to' live with her for 
awhile; then ordered her to marry a favorite 
protege. She refused. lie had her horsewhipped 
in the streets, and continued a systematic tor- 
ture till she consented. When she had boea 
married for some time, the protegi' (a man 30 
nearly white, that he was employed as chief 
clerk in a wholesale house) discovered the shame- 
less cheat that had been put upon him, and 
abandoned his wife. Then tho master took her 



REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



143 



again to his ineestuons bed, and gave her a deed 
of manumission, which ho afterward took from 
her and destroyed. 

" And now," she added, " he has gone off, and 
left me and ray chQdieu without any means of 
support." 

Mrs. Butler, amazed and confounded at tliis 
tale of horror, procured her an interview with 
the general, to whom the story was repeated. 
He spoke kindly to her, but told her frankly that 
be could not believe her story. 

"It is too much," said he, "to believe on the 
testimony of one witness. Does any one else 
know of these things?" 

"Yes," she replied: "everybody in New 
Orleans knows them." 

"I will have the case investigated," said the 
general. " Come again in three days," 

General Shipley undertook the investigation. 
He found that the woman's story was as true as 
It was notorious. The facts were completely 
substantiated. General Butler gave her her 
freedom, and assigned her an allowance from her 
father's estate; and, some time after. Captain 
Puffer, during his short tenure of power as 
deputy provost-marshal, gave her one of the 
best of her father's houses to live in, by let- 
ting apartments in which she added to her in- 
come. 

It is now a year since the outhne of this story 
was first published to the world, but no attempt 
has been made, from any quarter, to controvert 
any part of it. 

STORY OP AN OLD GENTLEMAN WHO THOUGHT A 
MAN COULD DO WHAT HE LIKED WITH HIS 
OWN SERVANT. 

A lieutenant searched a certain house in New 
Orleans, in which Confederate arms were re- 
ported to be concealed. Arms and tents were 
found stowed in the garret, which were removed 
to that grand repository of contraband articles, 
the Custom-House. A gentleman of venerable 
aspect, with long white hair and a form bent 
with premature old age, was the occupant of 
the house from which the arms and tents were 
taken. 

In the twilight of an evening soon after the 
search, the most fearful screams were heard 
proceeding from the yard of the house, as if a 
human being was suffering there the utmost that 
a mortal can endure of agony. A sentinel, who 
was pacing his beat near by, ran into the yard, 
where he beheld a hideous spectacle. A young 
mulatto girl was stretched upon the ground on 
her face, her feet tied to a stalce, her hands held 
by a black man, her back uncovered, from neck 
to heels. The venerable old gentleman with 
the flowing white hair was seated in an arm- 
chair by the side of the girl, at a distance con- 
venient for his purpose. He held in his hand 
a powerful horse-whip, with which he was lash- 
ing the delicate and sensitive flesh of the young 
girl. Her bock was covered with blood. Every 
stroke of the infernal instrument of torture tore 
up her flesh in long dark ridges. The soldier, 
aghast at the sight, rushed to the guard-house, 
and reported what he had seen to his sergeant, 
and the sergeant ran to head-quarters and told 
the general. General Butler sent him flying 
back to stop the old miscreant, and ordered him 



to bring the torturer and his victim to head- 
quarters the next morning. 

The sergeant hurried back and rescued the 
girl from the lash. 

About nine tlie same evening, the sergeant 
came again to head-quarters, breathless, report- 
ing that they were torturing tiie girl again, as 
the most heart-rending shrieks were heard com- 
ing from an upper room in the house. General 
Butler ordered him to arrest all the inmates of 
the house, and keep them in the guard-house all 
night, and bring them before him in the morning. 
On returning to the house, tiie sergeant found 
that the second outcry was caused by washing 
the lacerated back of the poor girl with strong 
brine. They do this at the Soutli on the pretense 
that it causes the wounds of the lash to heal 
more quickly and with less pain. The real object 
is to make them heal without such scars as 
would lessen the value of the slave at the auction 
block. It is said really to have that etlect ; and 
the operation has the farther charm of being 
more exquisitely painful than the punishment 
itself; since the flooding of the back with brine 
revives the dull sensitiveness of the nerves, 
calls back the dead agony to life, renews, in one 
instant, the anguish of each several stroke, and 
that anguish intensified. The whole extent of 
the suflerer's back is one biting, burning, pierc- 
ing, maddening pain. 

In the morning, the hoary wretch and his 
tortured slave were brought to the general's 
office. The upper part of her dress was opened. 
It was a hideous and horrible sight. 

"What have you to say, sir?" said General 
Butler to the old man. 

He said the girl had given information respect- 
ing the arms and tents in his garret, and she 
was going to run away. 

"It is false, sir," said the general, "so far as 
the information is concerned. We had our in- 
formation from another source. What was the 
cause of the second outcry?" 

The old man said he did not know. The 
general asked the girl. She said it was master 
washing her with brine. 

" Is this so ?" asked the general. 
" Yes." 

" You damned old rascal ! What could tempt 
you to treat a human being so ?" 

" She is my servant, and I suppose I may do 
what I like with her. 1 washed her to relieve 
her from pain." 

"To relieve her? Well, sir, I shall commit 
you to Fort Jackson." 

"General, I am a native of South Carolina; 
my health is infirm. It will kill mo." 

" I can't help that. And see that you behave 
well, or you shall have precisely the same pun- 
ishment that you have given this poor girl, and 
to relieve your pain, you shall be washed down 
with brine." 

The old native of South Carolina went to Fort 
Jackson, where, I am happy to be able to state, 
he died in a month. General Butler gave the 
girl her freedom, and assigned her a sum of 
money sufQcient to set her up in some little busi 
ness, such as colored girls carry on in New Or 
leans. 

A "RESPECTABLE MERCHANT" AND HIS SLAVE 
DAUGHTER. 

One Sunday morning, while General Butler was 



1-14 



REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



.seated at (lie breakfast table, Major Stronj?, a 
gentleman wiio was not given to undue emotion, 
rashed into tiie room, pale with rape ami horror. 
"General," lie exclaimed, "there is the nio.«t 
damnable thing out here !" 

The general followed him to the office. There 
he found the staff assembled, standing round a 
woman, gazing upon her with flashing eyes, 
their countenances betraying mingled pity and 
fary. The servants of the house were crowding 
about the doors of the room. The woman who 
was the object of .so much attention, was nearly 
white, aged about twenty-seven. Her face 
showed, at the first glance, that she was one of 
those unfortunate creatures whom some savages 
regard with a kind of religious awe, and whom 
civilized beings are accustomed to consider pe- 
culiarly entitled to tenderness and forbearance. 
She was simple-mined. Not absolutely an idiot, 
but imbecile, vacant, half silly. 

" Look here. General," said Major Strong, as 
ho opened the dress of tliis poor creature. 

Her back was cut to pieces with the infernal 
cowhide. It was all black and red — red where 
the infernal instrument of torture had broken tlio 
skin, black where it had not. To convey an 
idea of its appearance, General Strong used to 
say that it resembled a very rare beefsteak, with 
the black marks of the gridiron across it. 

No one eve^saw General Butler so profoundly 
moved aa he was while gazing upon this pitiable 
spectacle. I 

"Who did this?" he asked the girl. | 

"Master," she replied. 
" Who is your master?" 
" Mr. Landry." 

Landry was a respectable merchant living 
near head-quarter.s, not unknown to the members 
of the staff. 

" What did he do it for?" asked the general. 
"I went out after the clothes from the wash," 
said she, "and I stayed out late. When I 
came home, master licked me and said ho 
would teach me to run away." 

" Orderly, go to Landry's house and bring 
him before me." 

In a few minutes, Landry entered the office — 
a spare, tall, gentlemanlike person of fifty -five. 

" Mr. Landry," said the general, " this is in- 
famous. The girl is evidently simple. It is 
the awl'ulest spectacle I ever beheld in my life." 
At this moment Major Strong whispered in 
the general's ear a piece of information wliicli 
caused him to compare the faces of the master 
and the slave. The resemblance between them 
was striking. 

" Is this woman your daughter ?" asked the 
general. 

" There are reports to that effect," said Landry. 
The insolent uonchalence of the man, as he 
replied to the last question, so inflamed the rage 
of all who witnessed it, that it needed but a wink 
from tho general to set a dozen infuriated men 
at his throat. Tho general merely said, 
" I am answered, sir." 

The general, for once, seemed deprived of his 
power to judge with promptness. lie remained 
for some time," says an eye-witness, " apparently 
lost in abstraction. I shall never forget tho sin- 
gular expression on his face. 

" I had been accustomed to see him in a storm 
of passiou at any instance of oppression or fla- 



grant injustice ; but on this occasion he was too ' 
deeply affected to obtain relief in th(> usual way. 
" ITis whole air was one of d.jeclion, almo.st 
listlessness; his indignation too intense, and his 
anger too stern, to find expression even in his 
countenance. 

"Never have I seen that peculiar look but on 
three or fmr occasions similar to the one I am 
narrating, when I knew he was pondering upon 
the baleful curse that had cast its withering 
blight upon all around, until the manhood and 
humanity were crushed out of tlie people, and 
outrages such as the above wcyq looked upon 
with complacency, and tho perpetrators treated 
as respected and worthy citizen.s, — and that he 
was realizing the great truth, that, however man 
might endeavor to guide this v.-ar to the advan- 
tage of a favorite idea or sagacious policy, the 
Almighty was directing it surely and steadily for 
the purification of our country from this greatest 
of national .sins. 

" After sitting in the mood which I have de- 
scribed, the general again turned to the prisoner, 
and said, in a quiet, subdued tone of voice : 

" '5Ir. LandrJ^ I dare not trust myself to de- 
cide to-day what puni.shment would be meet for 
3'oar offense, for I am in that state of mind that 
I fear I might exceed the strict demands of jus- 
tice. I shall, therefore, place you under guard 
for the present, until I conclude upon your sen- 
tence.' "* 

The next morning, came troops of Landry's 
friends to tell the general what an honorable, 
what a "high-toned," what an amiable, gentle- 
man Mr. Landry was, and how highly he was 
respected by all who knew him. They said that 
ho had had his losses ; the war had half ruined 
him ; his friends had observed that he had been 
irritable of late, poor man ; and no doubt, he had 
struck his daughter harder thau he had intended. 
His wife and his other children came to plead for 
him. A legal gentleman appeared, also, to do 
what was possible for him in the way of argu- 
ment. 

General Butler decided the case thus: Landry 
should give his daughter her freedom, and settle 
upon her a thousand dollars. 

Being in mortal terror of Fort Jackson, he 
gladly complied with these terms. The poor 
girl went forth that day a fice woman, and a 
trustee was appointed to administer her little 
fortune and see that no farther harm befell her. 

It was a light penalty for such a crime, I 
could almost wish the general had treated the 
case d la Wellington — rung for throe poles and 
a rope, and had the wretch hanged, that Sunday 
morning, in the nearest public square. God and 
man would have applauded the deed, and there 
would have been no more woman-whipping in 
New Orleans while the flag of the United States 
floated over the Custom-IIouse. 

I close this chapter of horrors. Each of these 
anecdotes illustrates one phase of the accursed 
thing, and all of them tentl to show what has 
been already remarked, that the worst conse- 
quences of slavery fall upon the white race. It 
is better to be nmrdered than to be a murderer. 
It is belter to bo the victim of cruelty than to be 
capable of inflicting it. Mrs. Kemble judges 

* Atlantic Montlily, July, 1868. 



REPRESENTATIVE NEGRO ANECDOTES. 



U5 



rightly, when she sa3''s, in her recent noblo and 
well-timed work, tliat it were far preferable to be 
a slave upon a Georgian rice plantation than 
to be the lord of one, with all that weight of 
crime upon the soul which slavery necessitates, 
and to become so completely depraved as to be 
able to contemplate so much suffering and 
iniquity with stolid indifference. 

These scenes sank deeply into the hunker 
mind. General Butler, as he himself remarks, is 
not a man of the cast of character which we call 
humanitarian. A person of very great executive 
force never is, for nature does not bestow all her 
good gifts upon any individual. To his own 
circle of friends he would be more than generous ; 
he makes their cause his own ; he is faithful to 
them unto death, and after death. He was not 
satisfied to get for Major Strong a commission as 
brigadier-general, nor satisfied to come two 
hundred miles to attend his funeral ; but he took 
care of his fame also, writing with his own hand 
the history of his career for the press, and cor- 
recting errors and supplying omissions in the 
eulogies penned by others. Still, he is not, in 
the modern sense of the tei'm, a " philanthrop- 
ist." He loves men more than he loves man. 
But a woman's bleeding back, the master's brutal 
insensibility, the absolute destruction in the 
character of slave-owners of all that redeems 
human nature, such as sense of truth, pity for 
the helpless, regard for the sanctities of domestic 
life ; the flighty inferiority of their minds, their 
stupid improvidence, their incurable wrong- 
headeducss and wrong-hearteducss, their childish 
vanity and shameful ignorance, their boastful 
emptiness and contempt for all people and na- 
tions more enlightened than themselves ; these 
things appealed to him, these things he marked 
and inwardly digested. Impatient as he had 
previously been at the slow progress of the war, 
he now became more reconciled to it, because he 
saw, that every month of its continuance made 
the doom of slavery, more certain and more 
Bpeedj'. He was now perfectly aware tliat the 
United States could never realize General 
Washington's modest aspiration, that it might 
become " a respectable nation," much less a 
great and glorious one, nor even a nation homo- 
geneous enough to be truly powerful, until sla- 
very had ceased to exist in every part of it. 

Those who lived on intimate relations with 
the general, remarked his growing abhorrence of 
slavery. During the first weeks of the occupa- 
tion of the city, he was occasionally capable, in 
the hurry of indorsing a peck of letters, of spell- 
ing negro with two g's. Not so in the later 
months. Not so when he had seen the torn and 
bleeding and blackened backs of fair and delicate 
women. Not so when ho had reviewed his 
noble colored regiments. Not so when he had 
learned that the negroes of the South were 
among the heaven-destined means of restoring 
the integrity, the power, and the splendor of his 
country. Not so when he had learned how the 
oppression of the negroes had extinguished in 
the white race almost every trait of character 
which redeems and sanctifies human nature. 

" God Almighty himself is doing it," he would 
say, when talking on this subject. " No man's 
hand can stay it. It is no other than the om- 
nipotent God who has taken this mode of destroy- 
ing slavery. "We are but the instruments in his 
10 



hands. We could not prevent it if we would. 
And let us strive as we might, the judicial blind- 
ness of the rebels would do the work of God 
witliout our aid, and in spite of all our endeavors 
against it." 
Amen! 



C a AFTER XXV. 

, MILITARY OPERATIONS. 

General McClellan's orders to the com- 
mander of the department of the gulf directed 
him, first, and before all other objects, to hold ■ 
New Orleans. To that everything was to be 
sacrificed. Next, he was to seize and hold all 
the approaches to the city, above and below, on 
the east and on the west, which included the seiz- 
ure of all the railroads and railroad property in the 
vicinity. He was farther directed to co-operate 
with the navy in an attack upon Mobile, and, if 
possible, to threaten Pensacola and Galveston. 
General McClellan added that it was the design 
of the government to send re-enforcements suf- 
ficient for the accomplishment of all these pur- 
poses, as well as more detailed instructions. 
Circumstances prevented the sending of re-en- 
forcements, as we have seen. Nof were partic- 
ular orders respecting military movements for- 
warded, except that the attack upon Mobile 
should be postponed until the completion of 
some of the monitors. Whatever General Butler 
accomplislied in his department was done by the 
force he brought with him, and the regiments 
which he rai.sed in New Orleans. 

All the objects of the expedition named in the 
orders of the commander-in-chief were accom- 
plished except two. One of these was the re- 
duction of Mobile, which was countermanded. 
The other was tho opening of the Mississippi, 
above Baton Rouge, which was attempted, but 
found hnpossible without a very large increase 
of force. Let us dispose of that matter first. 

attempt to open the MISSISSIPPI. 

The troops were no sooner posted around the 
city than General Butler began to prepare an 
expedition to ascend the river, to occupy Baton 
Rouge, and reconnoiter Vicksburg, which was 
then looming up as the most formidable obstacle 
which the enemy had yet interposed to the free 
navigation of the Mississippi. Port Hudson had 
not then been fortified. Later in the year Gen- 
eral Butler had the pain and mortification of see- 
ing the batteries of Port Hudson rising and 
strengthening daily, he powerless to prevent it. 
He gave early warning respecting this new po- 
sition to the government. Two monitors and 
five thousand men, he said, could take the place 
in October, 1862, which a whole ficet and a 
large army might not be able to reduce six 
months later. The requisite force could not be 
sent in time, and it cost many thousand of pre- 
cious lives to invest it ia the summer of 1863. 
The peninsular losses paralyzed the powers of 
the government at the points most remote from 
the scene of those tremendous disasters, and no- 
where was their baleful influence more manifest 
than in the southwest. 



146 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



To procure river ?tenmboats for transportinj? 
the troops was the tirst difficulty. The rebels 
had wisely burned all the steamboats at the 
levee of tiic city, except one or two small ones. 
It was known, however, that many boats had 
been hidden awaj' in the bayous of the Del- 
ta ; and hence the steamboat hunting to which 
allusion has before been made. Parties of 
troops went peering and floundering through 
the wooded swamps of tlie adjacent country in 
search of tliese hidden vessels. Tlie gun-boats 
of the navy cruised for the same purpose along 
the borders of the lakes, and pusliod up the tor- 
tuous streams that empty into them. Several 
steamers were obtained in tliis way, winch the 
unwilling or timid mechanics of New Orleans 
were compelled to repair. 

General Williams and his brigade, convoyed 
by a naval force under Captain Parragut, went 
up the river to Baton Rouge, of which they took 
peaceable possession. Captain Farragut, General 
Williams and General Weitzel surveyed the bluffs 
upon whicli Vicksburg stands. They found the 
town too high to be reached by guns fired from 
the river, and too powerfully garrisoned and for- 
tified to be carried by assault with less than ten 
thousand men. Army and navy were, there- 
fore, ol)liged to confess, that with the forces then 
in the department, Vicksburg was an obstacle 
in the way of the free navigation of the river 
which could not be overcome. 

This opinion being communicated to General 
Butler, he devoted the spare hours of a week to 
the study of the position. Maps, plans, measure- 
ments, natives of the town, engineer officers, and 
even works on geology were duly examined. 
Tlie conception of the celebrated cut-ofl' was the 
result of his inquiries and cogitations. It was a 
truly ingenious and most plausible scheme. 
Such a canal cut across almost any other bend 
of the river would have answered the purpose 
intended. But nature had concealed under the 
.soft surface of that particular piece of land, a bed 
of tough olay, which baffled the project of di- 
verting the course of the river. It happened, 
also, that the force of the stream at that point 
tends to the opposite shore, and could not be 
persuaded to co-operate effectnally with the la- 
bors of tho canal-outters. Consequently the 
Father of Waters kept to his ancient bed, and 
Vicksburg remaiuol a river town. For a long 
time General Butler lived in hopes of sending 
Vicksburg a few miles into the interior, and 
opening tho Mis.si.ssippi to commerce ; but na- 
ture had taken her precautions, and he could 
not prevail. 

GOVERNING THE TROOPS. 

When the yellow fever season was approach- 
ing, the alarm among tlio officers of the army 
was such, that it amounted at times to some- 
thing like panic. The general was overwhelmed 
with requests for leaves of absence ; and when it 
was fijuiid that these were only granted in ex- 
treme cases, tlio resigning fever broke out and 
raged witli dangerous violence. Tho manner in 
wliicli the general met this new difficulty, which 
threatened to deprive him of indispensable offi- 
cers, was characteristic and effectual. Take one 
scene as a specimen of those which were daily 
enacted at head-quarters during tho month of 
June. 



Enter, a bluff rosy lieutenant, the pict'ire of 
robust health, bearing in his hand a doctor's cer- 
tificate, which declared that the lieutenant could 
not live thirty days longer in such a climate as 
that of Louisiana. The general looked at the 
man in some amazement. 

"You see. General," said tho lieutenant, "that 
the surgeon of my regiment says, I can't live 
thirty days in New Orleans." 

" Do 1/ou think so ?" asked the general, look- 
ing him steadily in the face. 

" Well, General," replied the officer, with a 
n)nnifest abatement of confidence in his cause, 
"I sliouldn't wonder if the surgeon is riglit." 

"I propose to try the experiment," said the 
general, "/tliink you'll live. But if I should 
prove wrong, I'll ask tho surgeon's i)ardon. If 
he is wrong, he shall apologize to n^■\" 

Tho officer laughed and retired. He enjoyed 
perfect health all the summer; wiih the ad- 
ditional felicity of much bantering on his un- 
successful attempt to deprive the department of 
a lieutenant. 

With regard to the resignations. General But- 
ler, at once, took the ground, that to resign 
in such circumstances • was precisely as in- 
famous as to resign in presence of the enemy. 
The yellow fever was the enemy, and the only 
enemy that was really formidable to the troops 
stationed in and around the city. Nevertheless, 
a few resignations were promptly accepted ; but 
so accepted as to serve as a warning to other 
officers not to avail themselves of that mode of 
escape. On the letter of a surgeon, who resigned 
for the alleged reason that his private affairs de- 
manded his presence at home, tho following 
words were written by the general : 

"This application will bo forwarded to the 
secretary of war, with this indorsement : ' A sur- 
geon who would make his private and domestic 
affairs an excuse for leaving his regiment, and 
exposing h:s fellow-citizens to the want of 
medical attendance at this season of the year — 
knowing that his place could not be supplied for 
months — deserves to be cashiered for cowardice 
or neglect of duty.— B. F. B.' " 

This indorsement was inserted in the Delta 
forthwitli. There were not many resignations 
afterward — none of surgeons. I notice, how- 
ever, a few more of those terrible "indorse- 
ments." Hero is another, which was written on 
the letter of an officer, who assigned as a reason 
for resigning, that he was " incompetent." 

"Tiiis officer has now been nine months in 
tho service. If, in this time, ho has just learned 
his incompetency, there must be something 
wrong in his mental or moral capacity. I be- 
lieve the latter, and, therefore, he is dismissed 
the service, subj'ct to tho approval of the presi- 
dent. If incompetent, he has done the United 
States no service, but much harm, and is entitled 
to no pay." 

Another: 

" Any officer who makes ' business affairs' a 
reason for quitting the service at this juncture, 
has dislionored himself, and should be dishonora- 
bly discharged, as is done in tlio case of Cap- 
tain ." 

Another: 

" Captain 's resignation is accepted, but 

ho is dishonorably discharged from the service. 
If his medical certificate is true that he has been 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



147 



EuCRjring for five years under the disease because 
of which he now loaves the service, wiliiout its 
yicldin.? to medical skill, it was both immoral 
and dishonorable to have taken the commission. 

There are indorsements of another character 
upon some of the applications for leave of ab- 
sence; as witness this, upon the back of an ap- 
plication for a short leave from Lieutenant-Colonel 
Keith, of the Twenty-first Indiana. 

"Granted. Colonel Keith's services to the 
government have been most valuable. His gal- 
lantry and courage are honorably mentioned." 

General Butler's care of the health of the 
troops during the hot season was assiduous and 
wisely directed. Familiar with sanitary science, 
he was able to give explicit and effectual orders 
on the subject, as well as sound advice to the 
surgeons. The men were required to wear their 
■woolen clothes during the summer; to bathe 
frequently; to avoid sleeping in the open air; 
to keep their camps religiously clean ; to abstain 
from stimulating food and drink; to avoid need- 
less fatigue and exposure to the sun. 

Observe- the four orders that follow, particu- 
larly the last paragraph of the second : 

" New Orleans, June 3, 1SG2. 

" I. The laundresses of companies are not per- 
mitted to come into the quarters of the men. 
They must bo kept in their own quarters, and 
the clothing sent to them and sent for. 

"II. Any officer who permits a woman, black 
or white, not his wife, in his quarters, or the 
quarters of his company, will be dismissed the 
service. " 

"New Orlrans, September 19, 1862. 

" I. It having been made to appear to the 
commanding general, that upon marches and 
expeditions, soldiers of the United States army 
have entered houses, and taken therefrom pri- 
vate property, and appropriated the same to their 
own use ; 

" It is therefore ordered, that a copy of Gen- 
eral Order No. 107, current series, from the war 
department, be distributed to every commis- 
sioned ofBcer of this command, and that the 
same be read, together with this order, to each 
company in this department three several times 
at different company roll-calls. 

"II. It is farther ordered, that all complaints 
that private property has been taken from peace- 
able citizens, in contravention of said General 
Order No. 1^7, be submitted to aboard of sur- 
vey, and that the amount of damage determined 
shall be deducted from the pay of the officers com- 
manding the troops committing the outrage — in 
proportion to their rank." 

" New Orleans, Kovemher 11, 1862. 

" I. Any commissioned officer who is found 
drinking intoxicating liquors in any public drink- 
ing-place or other public house within this de- 
partment, will be recommended to the president 
for dismissal frorn the service. 

" II. All police-officers are ordered to report 
in writing to these head-quarters all instances 
of the violation of this order, which may come 
under their notice." 

"New Orleans, July 8, 1862. 
" The acting sutler of the Twenty-sixth regi- 



ment of Massachusetts volunteers will bo sent 
homo l)y the first boat as a steerage passenger 
to New York; in the mean time, to be kept in 
close confinement. 

"He lias been engaged in selling liquors to 
the soldiers, and speculating upon tlie flour be- 
longing to the United States. 

" The provost -marshal will see to the execution 
of this order. 

" By order of Major-General Butler, 

" R. S. Davies, Captain and A. A. A. G." 

Another special order may be quoted in this 
connection: "First-Lieutenant T. L. Lynch, 
quarter-master of Third regiment of Native 
Guards (colored) is hereby reduced to his former 
position as private in the Fifteenth Maine volun- 
teers, for drunkenness in the streets, and in a pub- 
lic dance-house. Quarter-master Sergeant Henry 
C. Wright, Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, is here- 
by appointed first-lieutenant of the Third Native 
Guards, vice Lynch, reduced to the ranks." 

Discipline thus aduiinistered produces but one 
result. " The demeanor of our soldiers in New 
Orleans," remarks one disinterested observer, 
" entitles them to the highest encomiums. A 
more quiet, orderly, respectable set of private 
soldiers no army ever contained. Instances of 
rowdyism and intoxication are extremely rare, 
and those few which do occur are promptlj' and 
severely puni.shed by deprivation of p:iy and ira- 
prisonmont. Most of the troops here are of New 
England origin, and certainly they do credit to 
the land of their birth." Nor can we be sur- 
prised to read in the Delta, that after one pay day, 
three hundred thousand dollars were sent iiome 
in small packages, besides a very large sum 
under the alluiment system. 

The general himself noticed the behavior of 
the troops in the spec^ial order of June 14th : 

"Soldiers! Your behavior in New Orleans 
has been admirable I Withstanding the temp- 
tations of a grtat city, to present such discipline 
and efficiency is the highest exibition of soldierly 
qualities. You have done more than win a 
a gre:it battle; you have conquered yourselves. 
You have convinced the peoi)le of New Orleans 
that j'ou are worthy of the flag you bear in tri- 
umph ! He is more of a coward who yields to 
his own weakness, than he who surrenders to 
an enemy I Go on, as you have begun, true to 
your Now England training and her religious 
influences, showing the men and women of the 
Souih that where our bayonets are, there are 
peace, quiet, libert}', safety, and order under the 
law !" 

The devotion of officers and men to a general 
who took their part so well against all enemies, 
was remarkable, ilany affecting proofs of this 
devotion could be adduced, but the growing bulk 
of my manuscript warns rae to omit details that 
are not essential. I will transcribe one para- 
graph from a letter written by a father upon 
hearing that his son, a fine young officer, liad 
fallen at his post: 

" Now that all is over, let me say that Henry 
loved j'ou, General ; not with the selfish attach- 
ment of the recipient and expectant of favors, 
but with the devotion that one manly heart feels 
for another. He would have died for you, as he 
would for me or for his mother. I am nothing 
worth now, if I ever was; but, to the end of my 



148 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



days, few or many, and sorrowful they must be, 
I shall remember your kindness to my poor boy 
with the deepest gratitude." 

GENERAL butler's MODE OF DEALING WITH 
GUERILLAS. 

Before noticing the important military events 
of the campaign, we should consider one of the 
commanding general's negative merits. Ho did 
not conquer more country tlian he could hold. 
Tlie reason of this caution in an officer so enter- 
prising and so prolific of ideas, was stated by 
himself in an early dispatch sent to the war de- 
partment. 

" In tlie present temper of the country here," 
wrote Gen. Butler, June 1st, "it is cruel to take 
possession of any point unless we continue to 
hold it with an armed force ; because, when we 
take possession of any place those well disposed 
will show us kindness and good wishes : the 
moment we leave, a few ruflians come in and 
maltreat every person who has not scowled at 
the Yankees. Therefore it is, that I have been 
very chary of possessing myself of various small 
points which could easily be taken. * * * * 
What I would recommend is, that I be allowed 
to raise here, or have sent me, a force large 
enough to hold, by armed occupation, every 
place of the slightest importance, with a sup- 
porting force that could not be overcome, and 
Ike country made to pay the expense of such occu- 
pation. A few months under that regime would 
reduce the people to order, and assure the Union 
men that they are not to be given up to rapine 
and murder in a few days by the retirement of 
our troops. In their present frame of mind, un- 
der the pressure of the orders of Gen. Lovell and 
the Confederate government — to burn all the 
cotton and sugar — such burning will take place 
in advance of my march, wherever I may move, 
entailing great destruction of property upon its 
innocent owners, who, wiih tears in their eyes, 
have entreated me not to advance into certain 
sections of the country lest their property'' should 
be burned I 

" As an instance of recklessness of troops in 
arms, take the following : The river has been 
unusually high, and a crevasse opened at certain 
points would do an immensity of damage. A 
party of forty rebels surprised the train on the 
Opelousas railroad, ran down to within thirteen 
miles of the city on the opposite side of the river, 
and there deliberately cut the levee in six differ- 
ent places. If their design had been carried out, 
they would have drowned out every plantation 
between New Orleans and Port Jackson, seven- 
ty miles, but not injured the United States ; all 
this was done, because the planters were sup- 
posed to favor us. Prompt measures were taken 
b}' me to prevent the injury before it became ir- 
reparable, which proved successful." 

For these reasons, the active operations of the 
army were confined, at first, to sudden incur.slons 
into the enemy's country, either for the purpose 
of rescuing Union men, who were threatened by 
their neighbors with destruction, or of breaking 
up camps and roving gangs of guerillas. The 
guerillas were numerous, enterprising, and wholly 
devoid of every kind of scruple. They made 
war precisely in the sjiirit and in the manner of 
the band of murderers who rec^nily buichered 



the unresisting business men of Lawrence. At 
that time, too, an act of congress restaained the 
commanders of departments from retaliation upon 
these mi.screants. " It is useless," wrote General 
Butler, " to tell me to try them, send tlie re- 
cord to Washington, and then to shoot them if 
the record is approved. Events travel altogether 
too rapidly for that. In the meantime, they 
hang every Union man they catch, and by their 
proclamation.?, they threaten to hang every man 
who has my pass. All this, while they are 
prating in the papers, and by the message of 
Davis, about carrying on a civilized warfare." 

The first dash into the inhabited country was 
made by Colonel Kinsman, who went fifty miles 
or more up the Opelousas railroad, to bring away 
the families of some Uuion men who had fled to 
the city, asking protection. lie crossed the 
river to Algiers, and took possession of the depot 
and cars. Tie inquired of the bystanders where 
the engineers were to be found. '• There goes 
one," a man replied. Colonel Kinsman hailed 
him, and he approached. A conversation ensued, 
which showed something of the quality of the 
more demonstrated secesh. Indeed, I allude to 
Colonel Kinsman's excursion, only for the pur- 
of introducing this model of a secessionist engin- 
eer to the admnation of his countrymen. 

"Are you an engineer ?" asked Colonel Kins- 
man. 

" Yes." 

" Do you run on this road ?" 

"Yes." 

" How long have you been on this road ?" 

" Six years." 

" I want j'ou to run a train of cars for me?" 

" I won't run a train for any damned Yankee." 

" Yes you will." 

" No I won't." 

" You will, and without the slightest accident, 
too." 

" I'll die first." 

" Precisely. You have stated the exact al- 
ternative. The first tiling that goes wrong, 
you're a dead man. So march along with us." 

The man obeyed. Upon getting out of hear- 
ing of his townsmen, he appeared more pliant, 
and the conversation was resumed. 

" What is your name ?" 

" Pierce." 

" Pierce ? why that is a Yankee name. Where 
were you born ?" 

''In Boston." 

" Are you married ?" 

•' Yes." 

" Where was your wife born ?" 

" At East Cambridge." 

" How long have you been in the South ?" 

" About six years." 

" And you are the man who would'nt run a 
train for a damned Yankee ! You are, indeed, 
a damned Yankee. Go home, and see that you 
are promptly on hand to-morrow morning." 

He was promptly on hand in the morning, ready 
to run the train for his condemned countrymen. 
But as competent engineers were found among the 
troops, it was thought best not to risk the suc- 
cess of the expedition by trusting the renegade, 
and the objects of the party were accomplished 
without his aid. The train ran through the 
Lafourche district, the garden of Louisiana, the 
inhabitants of v/hiou Colonel Kinsman found to 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



l-i9 



be fierce, uncompromising foes of the United 
States. At tlie city of Lafourclio he met the 
leading men of the district, face to face at the 
court-house. 

" We are united as one man against you," 
said the spokesman of tlie party. 

" I care not," responded Colonel Kinsman, 
" how united you are, or against what you are 
united ; I have only tiiis to say to you, that if 
one more Union man is harmed in Lafourche, 
the town will be burned to the last shed." 

They could not disguise their astonishment at 
the spectacle of a hundred Union troops pene- 
trating a region so populous with enemies. It 
was something they had not in the least ex- 
pected. They were destined, however, to become 
extremely familiar with the dingy blue of the 
federal uniform. 

The case of this Yankee engineer was very far 
from being the only instance of the kind. As a 
rule, the loudest secessionists in Louisiana were 
people of northern birth and education. Several 
of the female teachers in the public schools in 
New Orleans, who were among the most zealous 
in teaching their pupils to chant the songs of 
Secessia, and to insult the soldiers of the Union 
in the streets, were found to be natives of New 
England. The fact shows how exquisitely 
adapted the system of slavery is to evoke the 
latent baseness of the weak, the vain, and the 
unregenerate. It is, also, another proof that 
renegades are necessarily more zealous than the 
hereditary adherents of a bad cause. 

The dash of Colonel John C. Keith, of the 
Twenty-tirst Indiana, into the same Lafourche, 
was a most brilliant little affair. He gave a 
lesson to guerillas which Lafourche will never 
forget. He gave a lesson to guerilla hunters 
which, when it is universally taken^ will soon ex- 
tinguish the last of those savages. 

In the course of the famous hunt after the 
steamer Fox, by Colonel M'Millan, a party of 
four sick soldiers had been sent back through 
the Lafourche country. A gang of guerillas, 
inhabitants of the district, lay in ambush near 
the road, fired into the wagou in which the sick 
men lay, killed two of them and wounded two. 
The bodies of the murdered men were stripped, 
then kicked and clubbed until they had lost 
almost all resemblance to human bodies, and 
finally, thrown by some negroes into a hole two 
feet deep, dug in the very public square of the 
town of Houma. The mound of earth heaped 
over them was conspicuous to all residents and 
travelers. One of the wounded men, after 
almost incredible adventures, escaped. The other 
was thrown into a filthy calaboose at Houma, 
with a negro convict. 

General Butler sent Colonel Keith, with four 
companies of his regiment, and two pieces of 
Massachusetts artillery, to convey to the people 
of Houma his sense of the moral quality of their 
acts. He ordered Colonel Keith to use his best 
endeavors to arrest the perpetrators; to hang 
them if found ; to arrest the abettors of the butch- 
ery ; and to confiscate or destroy the property of 
every man who, in any way, before or after the 
deed, had been a participator in the crime. 

Colonel Keith was the very man for this duty. 
Seldom, in the annals of warfare, do we find an 
account of a piece of work better done. On 
arriving in the vicinity of the town, he arrested 



every man that could be found. Having reached 
Ilouma, he discovered that most of the inhabi- 
tants had fled; but all the men that remained ho 
seized and securely held. He compelled the 
leading residents of the place to provide suitable 
cofSns for the murdered soldiers, to disinter them 
with their own hands, to place them in the cofiins, 
and to dig graves for them in the principal church- 
yard. The bodies were then borne to the Cathohc 
church, where Lieutenant Rose read over them 
the burial service, in the presence of the whole 
command. They were buried with the usual 
salute, and suitable inscriptions were placed 
over their graves. 

This pious duty being performed, Colonel 
Keith demanded of his prisoners a complete list 
of the names of the men who had participated 
in the ambush and abused the bodies of the two 
soldiers. 

They refused. He then gave them formal, 
written notice, that, unless within the next 
forty-eight hours the names were disclosed, he 
would burn and utterly destroy the town of 
Houma, lay waste all the plantations in the 
vicinity, and confiscate all the movable property 
to the United States. 

The prisoners being left to their reflections, 
soon came to terms. They sent for Colonel Keith, 
gave up the names of the murderers, and fur- 
nished information as to the direction of their 
flight. Then ensued, for several days and nights, 
such a scouring of the country for the fugitives, 
as Lafourche had never known before. They 
were traced from plantation to plantation, from 
the open country to the forest, through the forest 
to the bayou. The pursuers found the planters 
haughty and defiant. Several of them boasted 
thai they had harbored the fugitives and helped 
them to escape, and refused to reveal the direc- 
tion they had taken. There were five of these 
gentlemen. Colonel Keith swiftly doomed them 
to the penalty of participators after the fact. 
Their houses, barns, shops and stables were 
burned ; their horses, mules and cattle driven 
away ; their persons seized and conveyed to New 
Orleans. 

The ringleaders of the ambush contrived to 
elude the pursuit ; but several of the less guilty 
participants were arrested. Before leaving 
Houma, Colonel Keith caused the jail into which 
the wounded soldier had been thrown, to be 
leveled to the ground by battering-rams. He 
hoisted the flag of the United States upon the 
court-house, and announced to the assembled 
people that its removal would be the signal of 
his return to burn the town. Ho made a requi- 
sition upon the authorities for a sum of money 
to defray part of the expenses of the expedition. 
Finally, he heaped burning coals upon the sore 
heads of the residents of Houma by distributing 
among the suftl-ring poor of the town a consider- 
able quantity of provisions, and leaving behind 
him for their benefit a drove of confiscated cattle. 

That is General Butler's idea of guerilla hunt- 
ing. The highest praise that can be bestowed 
upon Colonel Keith's conduct was that vouch- 
safed by a rebel critic, who remarked that Keith 
was little better than Butler himself. The 
reader now knows one of the reasons why 
Colonel Keith's application for leave of absence 
was so agreeably indorsed by his chief. 

The command of the lakes gave the Union 



150 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



forces ail advantage over the guerillas vvliich wns 
frequeutly used with effect. Th'Te was a trou- 
blesome crew of guerillas near Manchac Pass, at 
the beginning of June, who plundered lliu neigh- 
boring plantations. Colonel Kimball, of the 
Twelfth Maine, landed four companies of his 
regiment in the vicinity, and pour.ced upon the 
position, driving out the rebel troops and captur- 
ing all their camp equipage, artillerj', and colors, 
as well as a general officer, with his valise full 
of Confederate recruiting money. 

NEW ORLEANS THREATENED. 

The attention of the commanding general, in 
July, was drawn to more imporlant afi'airs than 
these. Rebel troops were couccnlratiug at va- 
rious points in menacing proximit}' to Baton 
Rouge and New Orleans. Breckinridge, the 
general's sometime political chief, now appeared 
in the field as his principal military adversary. 
The rebel ram Arkansas was reported by Cap- 
tain Porter to be " above water," and capable of 
doing mischief. The spies of the general con- 
tinually reported movements of rebel troops, and 
everything betokened that the project of expel- 
ling the " ruthless invaders" was about to be at- 
tempted. The preliminary stroke was to fall 
upon Baton Rouge, which was to bo assailed by 
Breckinridge on land, and l)y the ram Arkansas 
from the river. The attack was made on tlie 
5th of August. The country well remembers 
how gallantly it was repulsed in one of the best 
contested actions of the war, and how the ram 
Arkansas ran aground, and was shot to pieces 
and blown up by the Union gun-boats. I need 
not detail the story of that memorable day; but 
there were some circumstances attending the 
battle not generally known, which may be pro- 
fitably noted by military men. 

The papers before mo show how extremely 
difficult it is for commanding generals to procure 
information trustworthy enough to base opera- 
tions upon. Both generals were deceived on 
this occasion. General Butler, though no man 
ever had a better spy system than ho, or paid 
more liberally for intelligence, was misled by his 
spies into supposing that the attack had been 
deferred ; and iie wrote to General Williams to 
that effect, only two days before the battle, ex- 
horting him, however, not to relax his vigilance. 
General Breckinridge, on the contrary, was de- 
ceived by intelligence that was perfectly true. 
The secessionists of Baton Rouge, who mingled 
daily with the Union troops, told Breckinridge, 
and told him truly, that more than one-half of 
the troops were on the sick-list. They told him, 
and it was a fact, tliat one regiment, six hundred 
strong, only mustered one hundred and lifty on 
dress parade, and that other regiments were in 
a similar condition. But they did not tell him 
that those patriotic troops, debilitated by the 
summer heats, and too sick to appear on the 
parade-groimd, were well enough to fight a bat- 
tle for their country. They did not tell him that 
that very regiment, which could only muster a 
hundred and fifty men at dress parade, would 
turn out more than five hundred on the day of 
battle. He expected to meet skeleton regiments 
of skeleton soldiers ; he met regiments with full 
ranks, stanch and steady. His friends told him 
where the sick regiments were to be posted, and 
he directed his main attack against that part of 



the field. It is said that the reason why he 
th.rew away his sword, in a paro.xysm of disgust, 
was not the loss of the battle, but a conviction 
that ho had been deceived and betrayed by the 
pcoiilo of Baton Rouge. His sword was Lund 
on the field with his name engraved on the hilt. 

The death of General Wilhams, on this bloody 
day, was a grievous loss to the department and 
the country. He was not a popular officer, ex- 
cept in the hour of danger. The ri^or of his 
discipline would not have lessened the good-will 
of his command toward him, for soldiers love a 
strict discipliuarian. Soldiers, indeed, will never 
lo7ig love an officer who is not infioxiole in his 
administration of military law. But the manner 
of this heroic man was sometimes ungracious ; 
and, perhaps, he allowed his keen sen.se of the 
.defects of the volunteer sj'stem to be too mani- 
fest. But on the day of battle only his great 
qualities were remembered, and every soldier 
felt that what General Williams ordered to be 
done was, infallibly, the movement which the 
moment required. Toward the close of the en- 
gagement, he came up to a regiment wliicii had 
lost every field officer, and a largo number of 
the company officers. 

" We have no officers. General," said some of 
the men. 

"Forward! my brave Indianians," he cried: 
" I will lead you myself" 

At that instant, a ball pierced his breast, and 
he fell never to rise again. 

The manner in which General Butler com- 
memorated the conduct of his victorious troops 
merits the attention of readers. A general order 
was dedicated to the memory of General Wil- 
liams : 

"New Orleans, August 7, 1S63. 

" The commanding general announces to the 
army of the gulf the sad event of the death of 
Brigadier-General Thomas Williams, command- 
ing Second brigade, in camp at Baton Rouge. 

"The victorious achievement — the repulse of 
the division of Major-General Breckinridge, by 
the troops led on by General Williams, and tho 
destruction of tho mail-clad Arkansas, by Cap- 
tain Porter, of the navy — is made .sorrowful by 
the fall of our brave, gallant and successful fel- 
low-soldier. 

"General Williams graduated at West Point 
in 1S37 ; at once joined tho Fourtii artihery ia 
Florida, where he served with distinction ; was 
thrice breveted for gallant and meritorious ser- 
vices in Mexico, as a member of General Scott's 
staff His life was that of a soldier devoted to 
his country's service. His coinitry mourns iu 
sympathy with his wife and children, now that 
country's care and precious charge. 

" We. his companions in arms, who had 
learned to love him, weep the irue friend, the 
gallant gentleman, the brave soldier, tho accom- 
plished officer, the pure patriot and victorious 
hero, and the devoted Christian. All, and more, 
went out when Williams died. By a singular 
felicity, the manner of his death illustrated each 
of these generous qualities. 

" The chivalric American gentleman, he gave 
up the vantage of tho cover of the houses of the 
city — forming his lines in the open field — lest 
the women and children of his enemies should 
be hurt in the fijrht! 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



151 



" A good general, he made his disposil ions 
and prepared for batlle at the break of day, when 
he met his foe I 

" A brave soldier, he received his death-shot 
leading his men ! 

" A patriot hero, he was fighting the battle of 
bis country, and died as went up the cheer of 
victory ! 

" A Christian, he sleeps in the hope of a bles- 
sed Redeemer ! 

" His virtues we cannot exceed — his example 
■we may emulate ; and, niourniug his death, we 
pray, ' may our last end be like his.' 

" The customary tribute of mourning will be 
worn by the officers in the department." 

The fimeral was celebrated in New Orleans, 
with all the pomp and solemnity which the re- 
sources of the department permitted. G-eneral 
Butler noticed, as he passed the British con- 
sulate, that the flag of the consulate was not 
lowered as the procession moved by. He sent 
to know why the customary tribute of respect 
had been omitted. Mr. Coppell explained the 
omission satisfactorily ; he was absent from his 
office, and was not aware that the funeral was 
to take place that day. 

Another general order was issued a day or 
two after the funeral, which gave a characteristic 
summary of the fight. 

" New Ouleans, Augusts, 1S62. 
" Soldiers of the Army of the Gulf: 

" Your successes have heretofore been sub- 
stantially bloodless. 

"Taking and holding the most important 
strategic and commercial positions with the aid 
of the gallant navy, by the wisdom of your 
combinations and the moral power of your arms, 
it has been left for the last few days to baptize 
you in blood. 

"The Spanish conqueror of Mexico won im- 
perishable renovv''n by landing in that country 
and burning his transport ships, to cut off all 
hope of retreat. You, more wise and economi- 
cal, but with equal providence against retreat, 
sent youre home. 

" Organized to operate on the sea-coast, you 
advanced your outposts to Baton Rouge, the 
capital of the state of Louisiana, more than two 
hundred and fifty miles into the interior. 

" Attacked there by a division of our rebel 
enemies, under command of a major-general re- 
creant to loyal Kentucky, whom some of us 
would have honored before his apostasy, of 
doubly superior numbers, you have repulsed in 
the open field his myrmidons, who took advan- 
tage of your sickness, from the malaria of the 
marshes of Vicksburg, to make a cowardly 
attack. 

" The brigade at Baton Rouge had routed the 
enemy. 

" He has lost three brigadier-generals, killed. 
wounded and prisoners ; many colonels and 
field officers. He has more than a thousand 
killed and wounded. 

" You have captured three pieces of artillery, 
six caissons, two stand of colors, and a largo 
number of prisoners. 

" You have buried his dead on the field of 
battle, and are caring for his wounded. You 
have conviucod him that you are never so sick 



as not to fight your enemy if he desires tlic 
contest. 

" You have shown him that if he can not take 
an outpost after weeks of preparation, what 
would be his fate with the main body. If your 
general should say ho was proud of you, it 
would only be to praise himself; but he will 
say, he is proud to be one of you. 

" In this battle, the northeast and the north- 
west mingled their blood on the field — as they 
had long ago joined their hearts — in the support 
of the Union. 

" Michigan stood by Maine, Massachussetts 
supported Indiana, Wisconsin aided Vermont, 
while Connecticut, represented by the sons of 
the ever green shamrock, fought as their fathers 
did at the Boyne Water. 

" While we mourn the lass of many brave 
comrades, we, who were absent, envy them the 
privilege of dying upon the battle-field for our 
country, under the starry folds of her victorious 
flag. 

" The colors and guidons of the several corps 
engaged in the contest will have inscribed on 
them — 'Baton Rouge.' 

" To complete the victory, the iron-clad 
steamer Arkansas, the last naval hope of the re- 
bellion, hardly awaited the gallant attack of the 
Essex, but followed the example of her sisters, 
the Merrimac, the Manassas, and the Louisiana, 
by her own destruction." 

The repulse at Baton Rouge changed the plana 
of the rebel leaders; but did not induce them to 
give up their main design. General Butler him- 
self had no fear for the safety of New Orleans. 
He fully expected an attack, however, and dis- 
posed his forces to meet it, even withdrawing 
the troops from Baton Rouge, and leaving it to 
the custody of the gun-boats. But the Confede- 
rate leaders, before the month of September was 
ended, abandoned their scheme. The Union 
army in New Orleans had been recruited by 
white and colored troops, and at whatever point 
the enemy "felt" the Union hues, they found 
them unyielding to the touch. 

MORE OF THE GUERILLA WARFARE. 

The absurd guerilla warfare, however, was 
never intermitted. I call it absurd, because 
while it was fomented by the Confederate gov- 
ernment, and encouraged bj'^ its non-combatant 
partisans, it was more destructive of rebel pro- 
perty than injurious to the United States. It is 
melancholy to read the reports of officers who 
commanded parties sent against the bandits who 
were ravaging Louisiana. Major R II. Peek, of 
the Twelfth Connecticut, who spent a week in 
the early part of August, in guerilla hunting on 
the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, found every- 
where the traces of indiscriminate plunder and 
destruction. 

Ascending the Pearl river, he says, " We 
fjiuid the people in great destitution, and beset 
by plunderers on every side." Again, at Pass 
Christian : " We found the place deserted by 
nearly all its population, who, a.? from other 
towns we visited, are daily flying by boat-loada 
to avoid impressment into the Confederate ser- 
vice. They are destitute of the necessaries of 
life." •' At Shields's Bow, outrages too gross for 



162 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



description havo been recently perpetrated by 
cruerillas, who find apologists among the most 
prominent citizens of tlio place." " At Louis- 
burgh all the dneks and buildings were burned 
by a part}' of guerillas two weeks since. It will 
cost many thousand dollars to rebuild them." 
"Madisonville was deserted, and nearly every 
public and private building closed." "In many 
places flour had not been seen for mouths." 
" We met large numbers flying to the protection 
of the federal army, and at each place visited by 
us, without exception, we were besought by 
men and women for passage to New Orleans. 
At several places we were asked to leave troops 
for protection against their professed friends." 
" Authorized and commissioned as the guerillas 
are, they are actuated by no motive but plunder ; 
they fight only from ambuscade, and war indis- 
criminatel}' upon friend and foe," 

So it was in Spain, when the Spanis'i people 
asked Marshal Soult for protection against their 
own gnerillas. Mexico tells the same story. So 
it is now in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and 
Virginia. The world will never know what the 
people of the South liave suffered, and are suffer- 
ing, from bandits bearing the authorization of 
the rebel government, and carrying the ugly flag 
of organized treason. 

Through this starving land streamed inces- 
santly droves of cattle from Texas for the rebel 
armies. There is one ferry upon the Mississippi 
over which, it is computed, two hundred thou- 
sand Texan cattle were carried during the first 
eighteen months of the war. A few days after 
Major Peck's return. Colonel S. Thomas, of the 
Eighth Vermont daslied northward, with a force 
of cavalry and artillery, and captured a drove of 
fifteen hundred cattle from Texas, and brought 
them all safely within tho Union lines. 

One of these raids into the enemy's country 
I will relate with a little more detail. It was 
the most daring little enterprise of the campaign. 
and well illustrated tho splendid valor of tlie 
officer who commanded it, the late General George 
C. Strong. I little thought, when I heard him 
tell the story in his gay and sprightly manner, a 
few days before his departure for Charleston, 
that before the tale could get into print, his eyes 
would be closed for ever. Ho died as he wished 
to die, and as he meant to die. " I shall not 
die by disease," he said to a friend, who spoke 
to him upon his health, about tho time of this 
exploit in Louisiana. In war, the moro valuable 
a life is, the more likely it is to be lost, and 
never was a life more lavishly risked tlian his. 

General Jelf. Thompson, who commanded tho 
rebel torces near the shores of Lake Pontchar- 
train, is an officer of a humorous turn of mind. 
He had written some saucy notes to General 
Butler, during tho summer, one of which has 
been given in a previous chapter. He was, also, 
the animating spirit of the warfare which de- 
vastated the country in the vicinity of his camp, 
and commanded part of tho forces designed to 
invest Now Orleans. Major Strong learned from 
the Union spies that tho head-quarters of this 
merry chieftain were at the village of Poncha- 
toula, where he had but two companies of in- 
fantry, and no cannon, tho main camp being 
nine miles to tlie north of it. At Ponchatoula, 
also, were depots of supplies, a post-office, and a 
telegrapii-ollioe, the suJdeu seizure of which 



might disclose valuable information. The vil- 
lage was six miles from the Tangipal-.o river, a 
navigable stream. Major Strong conceived tho 
project of ascending this river in a steamboat, 
landing a force soon after midnight, surprising 
the village at daybreak, capturing the general, 
the letters and the di-spatches, destroying the 
supplies, and beating a hasty retreat to tho 
steamer before the alarm could reach the main 
body of the enemy. 

At four in the afternoon of September 13, 
three companies of tho Twelfth Maine, under 
Captain Thornton, Captain Farrington, and Cap- 
tain Winter, and one company of tho Twenty- 
sixth Massachusetts, under Captain Pickering, 
embarked on board the Ceres. At eleven in 
the evening the steamer reached the month oC 
the Tangipaho, and grounded on the bar. Whei^ - 
after a severe struggle, this obstacle had been 
overcome, the boat pushed up tho narrow, wind- 
ing river four miles ; when it was one o'clock — 
too late for the contemplated surprise. Major 
Strong determined to wait till the next night, 
and returned to the mouth of the river. To pre- 
vent the sending of intelligence to the enemy, 
ho directed Lieutenant Martin to collect and 
bring in every small boat on the Tangipaho. 

Lieutenant Martin, a very young officer, fresh 
from a comfortable home in New York, who had 
volunteered to serve as aid to the commander of 
tlie party, had a view of the horrors of war in 
performing this duty, wliich he will never for- 
get, if he should live to be a lieutenant-general, 
tlie shores of the river, in the dim light of the 
morning, presented to his view nothing but deso- 
lation. Many of the houses were deserted, and 
every garden and field lay waste. Gaunt, yel- 
low, silent figures stood looking at the passing 
boat, images of despair. The people there had 
been small farmers, market-gardeuers, fishermen, 
and shell-diggers ; all of tliem being absolutely 
dependent upon the market of New Orleans, 
from which they had been cut off for four months. 
Roving bauds of guerillas and the march of 
regiments had robbed them of the last pig, the 
last chicken, the last egg, and even of tlieir half- 
grown vegetables. In aU that region there was 
nothing to eat but corn on the cob, and of that 
only a few pecks in each house. Lieutenant 
Martin was hailed from one of the houses : 

"There's a child dying here. For God's sake 
send a doctor ashore to save it !" 

The nature of the duty he was upon forbade 
delay ; but, as he was returning, an hour later, 
with his fleet of boats, ho stopped at the house. 
The corpse of a girl, ten years old, wasted to a 
skeleton, lay upon a bed in the cabin. Wasted 
as she was, it was evident that she had been a 
pretty, refined-looking girl. 

" Of what did she die ?" 

" We had nothing to give her but corn and 
fresh fish. We had no medicine. She could 
not eat what we had. She starved for want of 
pi'oper food. That's what she died of." 

It was an awful scene — the white skeleton 
upon the bed; the sullen, hungry, despairing 
family, standing silently around; the bare, 
comfortless room; the utter devastation with- 
out. 

The young officer was obliged to tell them 
that he must have their boat. 

"if you do," said one of them, "we shall ail 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



153 



starve, for vrc live on fish, and without a boat 
we can get no fish." 

The boat had to be taken, but it was returned 
within twent^'-four hours; and, in the mean 
time, Lieutenant Martin sent them a weeli's 
provisions. They seemed relieved when ho left 
tliem, fearing to be "compromised" by his 
presence. On slighter grounds than the chance 
visit of a Union officer, the guerillas had burned 
houses aud heaped every kind of outrage upon 
the heads of helpless and unoffending people. 
Terror evidently possessed every mind. One 
man on the Tangipaho, of vv'hom some slight 
service was requested, replied to Major Strong : 

" I'll do it, if you will agree to take me away 
with you. If you leave me here, I'm a dead 
man before your Steamboat is out of sight." 

The Ceres could not ascend the river to the 
point proposed. Major Strong tlien steamed to 
JMauchac bridge, the terminus of a railroad that 
led to Ponchatoula, ten miles di.stant. Ho had 
resolved, rather than return to New Orleans de- 
feated, 10 march along this railroad, and fall upon 
the place in open day. With two companies 
only, those of Captain Thornton and Captain 
Farrington, numbering one hundred and twelve 
men, he started soon after sunrise. It was one 
of the hottest days of a Louisiana summer, with- 
out a breath of wind to temper the blistering 
rays of the sun. Tlie path lay through a wooded 
swamp, and the railroad being laid upon trestle- 
work, tlie march was difficult and laborious in 
the extreme. Tl:ose hiige lumbermen of Maine 
sank under the blazing iieat. Pour were sun- 
struck. Many fell tlu'ough the trestles, and had 
to be hoisted out of the swamp by their comrades. 
They saw but one _ human being on the way. 
As they were sweltering slowly and silently 
along, the grinning liice of a negro emerged from 
the bushes in th& swamp. He waved his old 
hal above his head, and sliouted, 

" Hurrah ! I always said the Yankees would 
come — and here you isl" 

They were more than four hours in marching 
the ten miles. About eleven o'clock they began 
to see signs of the village. Another negro here 
darted from behind a car tliat was standing on 
the track : 

" Don't go no furder, master." said he to tlie 
major, " they've got cannon — they'll kill you all 
shore.^' 

The part}' pushed on. They soon descried a 
locomotive slowly backing toward the village, 
the engineer striving to get up steam. A dozen 
muskets were fired at him. He did not fall, but 
continued to recede with increasing velocity, and 
backed tln-ough the village, and beyond the vil- 
lage toward Camp Moore, screaming the alarm. 
There was no time to be lost. Major Strong 
ranged a file of men across the railroad, to hide 
the smallness of his force, while he formed his 
troops. Tliey advanced at the double-quick, 
which soon became a full run, and so rushed in- 
to the village. The negro was right — the enemy 
had cannon. A blast of canister greeted the 
panting troops, and laid Captain Thornton low, 
with three balls in his body and four more 
through his clothes. Most of this canister, how- 
ever, went crashing through a house in which 
many women had taken refuge, who came 
screaming into the street, and ran wildly about 
between the two hostile bodies. Major Strong 



halted his men, and made new dispositions with 
admirable coolness. One company lie moved to 
the right, the other to the left ; and both, from 
partial cover or from advantageous ground, 
poured a steady fire into the ranks of the foe. 
For a few minutes the action was exceedingly 
sharp. Of Major Strong's 112 men, 3.3 were 
killed or wounded. Twice the enemy fled and ral- 
lied. But, within fifteen minutes from the mo- 
ment wlien the Union column entered tlic place, 
the rebel force, three hundred in number and Six 
pieces of artillery, abandoned the village in hope- 
less confusion. 

But the bird had flown. Jeff. Thompson bad 
left the evening before. His sword, his spurs, 
his bridle, his papers, were seized. These only 
— not his clothing and personal effects. The 
post-office and telegraph-office were searched. 
A large quantity of old U. S. postage stamps, 
and a considerable number of letters and dis- 
patches were fouud and brought away. Twenty 
car loads of supplies were burnt. The telegraph- 
instruments were broken to pieces. 

As there were some thousands of rebel troops 
within nine miles of Ponchatoula, and a locomo- 
tive had carried the alarm thither, Major Strong 
was compelled to deny himself tho pleasure of a 
long stay in the village. Tho weary tramp on 
the trestle-work was resumed. Several of the 
severely wounded were left behind — Captain 
Thornton among them. The gallant Captain 
was exchanged a few days after ; he recovered 
from his wounds, aud returned to his regiment. 
Before the troops had gone two miles from the 
village, down came a train of platform cars, with 
a howitzer upon each of them and men to work 
it. But Major Strong, who had anticipated a 
movement of that nature, had removed some railo 
from the track, and caused them to be carried 
along with the troops. The howitzers, therefore, 
played upon the slowly retiring column from a 
distance which rendered their fire ineffectual. • 

It was terrible, that march back to the steam- 
boat. The men were exhausted to the degree 
that they begged and implored to be left behind. 
One young officer, deaf to the word of command 
and to the voice of entreaty. Major Strong could 
only rouse from the last stupor of fatigue by vio- 
lently kicking him as he lay across the track. 
Nothing saved the command from destruction 
but a drenching shower, which put new life into 
them all, and enabled them to drag their weary 
limbs to the boat before dark. 

General Butler characterized this incursion as 
" one of the most daring and successful exploits 
of the war, equal in dash, spirit, aud cool cour- 
age, to anything attempted on either side. Ma- 
jor Strong and his officers and men deserve great 
credit. It may have been a little too daring, 
perhaps rash, but that has not been an epidemic 
fault with our officers." 

No man who went with this expedition was 
surprised at the promotion of Major Strong to the 
rank of brigadier-general ; still less at his spleti- 
did heroism in Charleston harbor. Ho was ex- 
pressly formed to lead a forlorn hope upon an 
enterprise that was only one remove from the 
impossible. Like Winthrop, and so many other 
gallant spirits, he had given his life to his 
country long before the moment when the gift 
was accepted. 



154 



MILITARY OPERATIONS. 



CONQUEST OF LAFOURCHE. 

Wlion tho enemy had ceased to threaten New 
Orleans and its outposts, General Butler deemed 
it prudeut to extend tlie area of conquest bj- re- 
annexing the Lafouiche district to tlie United 
States. A brigade of infantry, with the requisite 
artillery, and a body of cavalry, under an able 
and enterprising officer, Captain Perkins, was 
placed uudcr tho coium.and of General Weitzel 
for this purpose. General Weitzel penetrated 
this wealthy and populous region in the last 
week of October. A series of rapid marclies, 
one spirited action, and a number of minor com- 
bats, placed him in complete and permanent 
possession of the country in four days. 

It was here tliat the negro que.stion presented 
itself so appalliogly to the mind of the com- 
mander of the invading force. "What shall I 
do about the negroes ?" he wrote to hcad-quar- 
teis, October 29lh. '"You can form no idea of 
the vicinity of my camp, nor can you form an 
idea of the appearance of my brigade as it mar- 
ched down the b.i3'ou. My train was larger 
than an army tr;iin for 25,000 men. Every sol- 
dier had a negro marching in the flanks, carrying 
his knapsack. Plantation carts, filled with negro 
women and children, with tlieir effects ; and of 
course compelled to pillage for their subsistence, 
as I have no rations to issue to tliem. I have a 
great many more negroes in my camp now than 
I have whites. * * These negroes are a jjcr- 
fect nuisance." 

And tho next morning a party of General 
Weitzel's troops captured four hundred wagon 
loads of negroes, which tlie enemy were attempt- 
ing to carry with them in their retreat. TJiere 
were in the whole district about 6,000 slaves, all 
of whom were in a ferment, and for the moment 
useless ; especially in the neighboriiood whence 
almost the whole white population had fled. 

For several days it could be truly said of La- 
fourciie that chaos had come again. But Gen- 
eral Butler's abandoned plantation system was 
soon in operation, and restored the community 
to a tolerable degree of order and safety. Tlie 
standing cane was gathered ; tho sugar-mills 
were set going ; the negroes were merrily work- 
ing at ten dollars a month; and the United 
States were reaping some of the advantage of 
their labor. A considerable number of the ne- 
groes, freed by the couflscation act, found the 
way into their regiments of " Native Guards," a 
procedure that was not pleasing in the sight of 
General Weitzel. 

By the conquest of Lafourche, an immense 
amount of properly liable to coniiscation fell into 
the hands of the commanding general. The people 
who reiuiiiued on the plantations made haste to en- 
deavor to save their property by making fictitious 
transfers. Some of the oflicers of the invading force, 
flnding large quantities of sugar lying about loose, 
which the owners were only too glad to sell at any 
price, caught the fever of speculation, and bought 
sugar to the extent of their means. General 
Butler visited tlie principal camp of occupation, 
and soon learned what was going on. Peeling 
that the whole array was in danger of demoral- 
ization if this speculation in sugar, and in com- 
modities more portable, was allowed to continue, 
he determined to apply a sweeping remedy. He 
devised a scheme, which not only stopped this 



irregular speculation, but poured tho whole of 
the proceeds of the forfeited jjiojierty into the 
public treasury. He sequestered the entire dis- 
trict, and all that it contained, subject to the 
final adjudication of a commission of officers. 

For six weeks the commissioners were em- 
ployed in ai)plying the confiscation act to the 
property in Lafourche, in establishing the loose 
negroes upon the abandoned lands, and in re- 
storing to Union men their temporarily seques- 
tered estates. 

The chief labor of the commi.?sion devolved 
upon Colonel Kinsman, as his as.-^ociates had al- 
ready their hands full of occupation. When the 
people came crowding about hi in professing loy- 
alty to the Union, he reminded them that he 
had had the jileasure of visiting Lafourche in 
the month of May, when he had been informed 
that the inhabitants of Lafourche were united as 
one man against the United States. He gave 
them to understand that the taking of tho oath of 
allegiance, at the last moment, by men who had 
given a thou.sand proofs of their complicity with 
treason, was not enough to secure their property 
from confiscation. The strict observance of this 
rule added, in the course of time, about a million 
dollars to the revenue of tho United States, and 
deprived a large number of rebels of the means 
of doing harm. Colonel Kinsman had a most 
difficult duty to perform ; one that tasked equally 
his sagacity and his firmness ; and one that ho 
shrank from undertaking. He acquitted himself 
well. He executed the order and the law with 
care and fidelity, and won the approval of all 
disinterested persons wlio had the means of 
judging his conduct. Some of the military spec- 
ulators in sugar grumbled at the rigor of de- 
cisions which deprived them of anticipated gain, 
and all the victims of the confiscation act ab- 
horred the officer who executed it. But tho 
friends of the Union observed with admiration 
his tact and patience in investigating, and the im- 
partial justice of his awards. A corrupt man in 
his situation could have made a fortune with ab- 
solute security against detection. He foroboro 
even to buy a hog.shead of confiscated sugar, 
which he would have liked to send as a present 
to his New England home, lest he should give a 
pretext for the tongue of slander. 

Every dollar's worth of confiscated property 
was sold at New Orleans at public auction, of 
which previous notice was publicly given. No 
man had the slightest advantage over another 
in purchasing, and the entire proceeds of the 
sales were paid into the public treasury. 

Every secessionist in Louisiana will tell you 
to-day, that this pure and faithful officer retired 
from Lafouivhe a millionaire. They will also a.s- 
suro you that the re.-^t of the proceeds of the con- 
fiscated property were divided between General 
Butler and liis brother. They really believe that 
the general sent at least two millions away for 
investment during tho eight months of his ad- 
ministration. 

Such were tho principal military operations in 
the department of the guli! If they were less 
splendid than those of other fields, if they were 
not all that the circumstances invited and re- 
quired, it can bo truly said that they were all 
that the force at tho disposal of the commanding 
general permitted. What could bo prudently 
attempted was handsomely done. In Novem- 



KOUTINE OF A DAY IN NEW ORLEANS. 



155 



ber General Butler, if he had dared to leave 
New Orleans inadequately defended for ten days, 
would have nipped Port Hudson in the bud. 
He dared not, with the force at his command, 
risk the tempting enterprise. And wlicn, after 
months of waiting and beseeching for re-enforce- 
raents, re-enforcements arrived, they came pro- 
vided with a major-general. 

Much of the success of General Butler in his 
department was owing to the fact that he con- 
trived, in spite of opposing influences in Massa- 
chusetts, to take with him many officers of his 
own selection — men whom he understood, and 
who were peculiarly adapted to render him 
efficient service. Several of these officers served 
long without commission and without pay. 
They were afterward commissioned by a stroke 
of General Butler's legal legerdemain. They were 
appointed to positions on the stafl'of some other 
major-general, not of Massachusetts, and then 
"assigned" to the staff of General Butler. 

The general, however, was most ably assisted 
by the officers of his command, generally. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

ROUTINE OF A DAT IN NEW ORLEANS. 

A Major-General commanding, as modern 
warfare is conducted, is in danger of becoming 
the slave of the desk. Ho carries a sword in 
obedience to custom, but the instrument that he 
is most familiar with is that one, which, ' emi- 
nent tragedians' sa.y, is mightier than the sword. 
The quantity of writing required for the business 
of a division stationed in a quiet district is very 
great. But in such a department as that of the 
Gulf in 1862, a general must manage well, or he 
will find himself reduced to the condition of the 
' sole editor and proprietor' of a daily newspaper. 
His life will resolve itself into a vain struggle to 
keep down his pile of unanswered letters. Gen- 
eral Butler employed seven clerks at head- 
quarters; he had, also, the assistance of the 
younger members of his staff; but, with all this 
force of writers to assist him, he wrote or dic- 
tated more hours in the twenty-four than pro- 
fessional writers usually do. 
- Let us see how the day went in New Orleans. 

From eight to nine in the moruiug, General 
Butler usually received ladies at his residence, 
who desired to avoid the publicity of the office 
at the Custom-House, or who had communica- 
tions to make of a confidential nature. At nine, 
he went, in some state, to his public office. On 
his appearance at the front door, the guard, 
drawn up beibre the house, saluted, and the 
general entered his carriage, two orderlies being 
mounted on the box. The same ceremonial was 
observed when he entered the Custom-House. 
The six mounted orderlies, employed in con- 
veying messages and orders, were drawn up 
before the principal entrance, and saluted the 
general. On his way to his own apartment, he 
had to pass through the court-room in which 
Major Bell was dispensing justice to the people 
of New Orleans. The major remarked the good 
effect it had upon the spectators to see the 
commander of the department remove his cap, 
as he entered the court-room, and bow to the 



presiding judge. On reaching his office, the 
geniral would find from one hundred to two 
hundred people, in and around tho adjoining 
rooms, waiting to see him. 

The office was a large room, furnished with 
little more than a long table and a few chairs. 
In one corner, behind the table, sat unobserved, 
a short-hand reporter, who, ai a signal from tho 
general, would take down the examination of an 
applicant or an informer. The general begun busi- 
ness by placing his pistol upon the table, within 
easy reach. After the detection of two or three 
plots to assassinate him, one of the aids caused a 
little shelf to be made under the table for the 
pistol, while another pistol, unloaded, lay upon 
the table, which any gentleman, di.sposod to 
attempt the game of assassination, was at liberty 
to snatch. 

That single loaded pistol, carried in a pocket 
or laid upon a shelf, was General Butler's sole 
precaution against assassination in a community 
of whom a majority would have treated his mur- 
derer as a patriotic hero, and rewarded him with 
honor and with wealth. But that precaution 
sufficed. Chance gave him the reputation of 
being a dead shot, and every man who observed 
his movements could infer that his handling of 
his pistol would be quick and dexterous. He 
was riding along one day, with a numerous 
retinue, v/here some orange trees, loaded with 
fruit, hung over a wall. As he rode by he took 
out his pistol, and aiming it at a twig which sus- 
tained three fine oranges, severed the twig and 
brought the game rolling on the round. It was 
a chance shot, which, probably, ho could not 
not have equaled in ten trials. But it answered 
the purpose of giving the impression that he was 
the best shot in New Orleans. Yet, it was sur- 
prising that no one attempted his assassination. 
He went everywhere with one attendant, or 
with none. Ilis apparent carelessness was a 
daily invitation to the assassin. 

Another member of the staff, of a mischievous 
turn, had exercised his talents in printing, in 
large letters, the following sentence, legible to all 
visitors, on the wall of the room : 

"There is no difference between a he 
and a she adder in their venom." 

Mrs. Philips, and other ladies of a similar dis- ' 
position, would glare at the legend indignantly, 
as though this simple statement of a fact in 
natural history had some special reference to 
them. 

There was another little contrivance, which I 
believe was an achievement of the general's own 
genius. Some of his Creole visitors, and some 
of the Israelitish money-changers vi^ho came to 
him, were adicted to the use of garlic — a fact 
which did not render a close confidential inter- 
view with them so desirable as a conference from 
a point more remote. Consequently, the chair 
provided for tlie use of such persons was tied by 
the leg to the leg of the table, so that it could 
not be drawn very near the one occupied by the 
general. The anxious petitioner, not observing 
the cord, was likely to open the conference by 
throwing the chair over. Others, who succeeded 
in seating themselves without this embarrassing 
catastrophe, found all their attempts to edge up 
confidentially to the general's ear unavailing. 
This invention saved the general from the fumes 



156 



ROUTINE OF A DAY IN NEW ORLEANS. 



of garlic, and compelled the visitor to speak 
loud enotigh for the reporter to bear iiim. 

The general being seated in his chair behind 
the table, with his artillery in position, heads of 
departments were first admitted, such as the 
medical director and tlic chief of police. Their 
reports having been received and acted upon, the 
chitjfs of the Relief Commission and the Labor 
Commissiou entered and reported. Next to 
them such persons as consuls and bank directors. 
Tho first hour of the morning was usually con- 
sumed in conference with these and other im- 
portant official individuals. Then the public 
were admitted, thirty at a time, who stood in a 
seml-circlc before the table. The general would 
begin at one end of the line, and ask: 

"What do you want?" 

They wanted everything that creature ever 
wanted : a pass to go beyond the lines ; an 
order on the relief committee for food ; protection 
against a liard landlord ; a permit to search for a 
slave; aid to recover a debt ; the arbitration of 
a dispute; payment of a claim against the gov- 
ernment ; the restoration of forfeited properly ; 
the suppression of a nuisance ; employment in 
the public offices : a gift of money ; information 
OQ points of law; protection against a cruel 
master. Otliers came to give information, or to 
wreak an inexpensive revenge by denouncing 
a private foe as a public enemy. The general 
devoted an average of twenty seconds to the 
consideration of each. A few, short, sharp, iuci- 
sive questions, and then the decision, clear as 
yes or no could make it. And the decision once 
pronounced, there was not another syllable to 
bo said. Every one got at least an answer, 
and tho answer was generally right. Under the 
fire of General Butler's cross-questioning, the 
subterfuges and evasions of the unskillful rebels 
melted rapidly away, and the truth stood out 
clear and unmistakable. Sometimes when a 
man had been detected in a falsehood, he would 
try again. 

" Well, General, I own it was a lie, but now I 
am going to tell the truth." 

It happened, not un frequently, that the gen- 
eral would overturn, by an adroit question or 
two, the second version of the tale, and the man 
would essay a third time, calling all the saints 
to witness that now, at last, the pure truth 
should be told, and then immediately coin a new 
series of falsehoods, to be instantly detected by 
the general. Scenes of this kind occurred so 
often, tliat it became a by-word at head-quarters: 
"Now I am going to tell you the truth." 

At eleven o'clock, the door being closed to 
miscellaneous applicants, the letters of the day 
were placid upon tho table opened, to the num- 
ber of eighty or a hundred. The general read 
over each, and disposed of most of them by 
\NTiting a word or two on tho back, "yes," " no," 
" granted," " refused ;" in accordance with which 
the answer was prepared by clerk or secretary. 
Others were reserved for consideration or for 
answer by the general's own hand. Military 
business was next in order, which brouglit him 
to the hungry hour of one. Alter luncheon, 
the writing of reports and letters occupied the 
time till half-past four. Then home to dinner. 
From half-past five till dark, the general was on 
horseback, reviewing a regiment here, visiting 
an outpost there, thus uniting duty with recrea- 



tion. Then home to his private office, whero 
ho wrote or dictated letters till ten. The last 
tired scribe being then dismissed, tho general 
retired to the only apartment into which no 
visitor ever entered, where, at a little desk in a 
corner, he wrote the papers and dis;'atche3 
which were of most importance, or which were 
designed only for the eye of the person ad- 
dressed. 

Even this constant devotion to tho business 
of his position could not prevent an accumula- 
tion of unanswered letters, Frequeiitl}'^ he was 
obliged to ply the pen all day Sunday, in order 
to reduce the mountain of papers, and begin the 
week with a clear conscience and a clean table. 
Tho business, however, was all done. No letter 
but received its due attention. Letters from home 
asking information respecting soldiers who had 
suddenly ceased to write to their friends were 
invariably answered, and the fullest accounts 
given which could be procured. A decent ap- 
plication for an autograph was not neglected ; 
for the general kept a supply of the article on 
hand, ready (bided, enveloped, and stamped. 

" Why not ?" he said one day to Major Strong, 
who laughed at this business-like proceeding. 
" If I can gratify a person, by writing my name, 
why should not I doit? At the same time, 
why should not I do it with the least trouble to 
myself?" 

Thus the days passed. A trip up tho river to 
Baton Rouge, or down the river to tho forts, a 
ride to Carrollton, or a brigade review, varied 
the uniformity of the general's life. But most 
of his days were employed in the manner just 
described. " For hours," writes one, " he sita 
and patiently listens to complaints, and suggests 
punishments or redress. Returning to his hotel, 
lie partakes of a simple meal, retires to his room, 
to be again besieged by crowds of officers aTi'd 
orderlies, charged with reports, or waiting orders. 
Late at night, I have seen the gas gleaming 
from his room (the door open by the necessity 
of getting some air in this suffocating climate), 
and the general buried in the labor of his exten- 
sive military correspondence." 

It was not General Butler's office alone 
which was besieged by crowds of anxious people. 
Colonel French, General Slieploy, Col. Stailbrd, 
Dr. McCormick, were only less busy than he, in 
answering the arguments, and supplying the 
wants of the people. 

The general life of the city had resumed some- 
thing of its wonted careless gaycty and business 
bustle. The morning markets of New Orleans 
were briglit once more with red bandannas, and 
noisy with the raany-tongued chatter of the 
huckster.s — Creole, French, German, Spanish, 
and English. " I suppose," remarks a spirited 
writer,* '" that nowhero since the dispersion of 
the builders of Babel, could be heard such poly- 
glot vociferations as proceed from tho sidewalk 
peddlers in tho French market at New Orleans. 
On ono side, tho gesticulative Gaul rolls his r's 
with absolutely canine emphasis in the utterance 
of his native language, or gaUicizos the English 
appellation of the most popular of vegetables 
into 'm-ta-ta — si' or informs you that the price 
of a bird or fish is ' two bit ! two bit — ^j'ou no 



* Mr. Thomas Biitlcr Ounn, tho at;,- 
of the New York Tribune. 



i>pui dent 



RECALL. 



157 



like him. you no liab liim 1' On another, tho 
German vociferates with as iiarmonious an effect 
as might be produced by the simultaneous shak- 
ing up of pebbles in a quart pot, and the filing 
of a hand-saw; while on a third and fourth, the 
Creole, Sicilian, and Dego rival each other in 
vocal discord. Fancy all this, and throw in any 
amount of obstreperous, broad-mouthed, gleeful 
negro laughter, and you have some approxima- 
tion toward the sounds audible at the time and 
locality I have undertaken to describe." 

The far-famed rotunda of the St. Cliarles hotel 
again resounded with tlio noise of multitudinous 
conversation ; but its lofty dome echoed not 
back the sound of the auctioneer's hammer, that 
doomed the pampered house-slave to the horrors 
of a Red River plantation, or consigned a beauti- 
ful quadroon to the arms of a lucky gambler. 
The levee still looked bare and deserted to those 
who had known it it in former years; but there 
was some life there. A few vessels were loading 
or discharging. The ferry-boats were plying on 
»he river. The scream of the steam-whistle was 
heard, and steamboats were " up" for Carrollton, 
Baton Rouge, or Fort Jackson. In the stream 
lay at anchor a few representatives of the im- 
mortal fleet, the arrival of which, in the last 
days of April, ushered in a new era of the his- 
tory of Louisiana. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 



There had been rumors all the summer that 
General Butler was about to be recalled from 
the Department of the Gulf. In August, he 
alluded to these rumors in one of his letters to 
General Halleck, and said, that if the govern- 
ment meant to remove him, it was only fair for 
his successor to come at once, and take part of 
the yellow fever season. General Halleck re- 
pUed, September 14, that these rumors were 
" without foundation." Mr. Stanton had written 
approvingly of his course. Mr. Chase and Mr. 
Blair expressed very cordial approval of it. The 
president, in October, wrote to the general in a 
friendly and confidential manner. It was only 
the secretary of state who appeared to dread 
that total suppression of the enemies of the 
United States in Louisiana, which it was Gene- 
ral Butler's aim to effect. But it was not sup- 
posed that his policy would carry him so far as 
to deprive his country of tlie services of the man 
who, wherever he had been employed, had 
shown so much ability, and who had just 
achieved the ablest and the noblest piece of im- 
promptu statesmanship the modern world has 
seen. 

General Butler was going on in the usual 
tenor of his way. His favorite scheme, as the 
winter drew near, was the roofing of the custom- 
house, the citadel of New Orleans. The gov- 
ernment had expended millions upon that edifice, 
and its marble walls had been completed, but it 
stood exposed to the weather, and was rapidly 
depreciating. The estimates of competent en- 
gineer officers showed that it could be covered 
lor about forty thousand dollars with a roof of 
wood, which would last thirty or forty years, 



save the costly structure from decay, and render 
the upper stories inhabitable. He procured part 
of the necessary timber by seizing a large quan- 
tity which was tho property of those notorious 
' foreign neutrals,' Gautherin and Co., and which, 
ho was prepared to show, had been bought by 
the Confederate government. In executing the 
work, he intended to employ a large number of 
the men who were daily fed by the bounty of 
the government. The operation was about to 
be begun, when the order for his recall arrived. 
It would have been done in three months from 
the revenues of the department. The Custom- 
House is still without a roof. 

Another project engaged his attention toward 
the close of the year. He received information 
that a speculative firm in Havana had imported 
from Europe a large quautity of arms, which they 
hoped to sell to the Confederate government. 
He sent an officer to Havana to examine these 
arms, procure samples, and endeavor to get the 
refusal of them for three months, so as to gain 
time for the war department to efiect the pur- 
chase of the arms for the United States. Captain 
Hill, the officer employed on this errand, had 
obtained a refusal of the arms for several weeks, 
when the change of commanders took place, and 
the affair was dropped. Captain Hill reports, 
that no citizen of tho United States, supposed to 
have a public commission, was safe at that time 
in Havana. He was subjected to every kind of 
annoyance, and was warned by friendly Cubans 
not to be in the streets alone after dark. The 
town swarmed with rebel emissaries and rebel 
sympathizers, affording another proof that, in 
this quarrel, we are alone against the benighted 
men, and classes of men, who are interested in 
retarding the progress of civilization. The day 
alter the departure of Captain Hill from New 
Orleans, the report was current in the city that 
he had been sent by General Butler to the 
North, with two millions in gold, the spoils of 
Lafourche, to deposit in some place of safety 
against the coming day of wrath. He carried, in 
fact, just two thousand dollars in gold, to defray 
bia expenses in Havana. 

New Orleans elected two members of congress 
in December, Mr. Benjamin F. Flanders, and Mr. 
Michael Halim, both unconditional Union men. 
Mr. Flanders received 2,370 votes out of 2,543 ; 
Mr. Hahn received 2,581, which was a majority 
of 144 over all competitors. The canvass v/as 
spirited, and no restriction was placed upon the 
voting, except to exclude all who had not taken 
the oath of allegiance. At this election, the 
number of Union votes exceeded, by one thou- 
sand, the whole number of votes cast in the city 
for secession. 

It could be truly said in December, that there 
was in New Orleans, after seven months of 
General Butler's government, a numerous party 
for the Union, probably a majority of the whole 
number of voters. The men of wealth were se- 
cessionists, almost to a man. The gamblers and 
ruffians were on the same side. The lowest 
class of whites exhibited the same impious an- 
tipathy to tho negroes, and the same leaning to- 
ward their oppressors, that we observe in the 
corresponding class in two or three northern 
cities. But, among the respectable mechanics 
and smaller traders, there was a great host who 
were cither committed to the side of the Union, 



EECALL. 



or were only deterred from committing them- 
selves by a fear that, after ail, tlie city was 
destined to fall again under the dominion of the 
Confederates. Tiio Union meetings were at- 
tended by enthusiastic crowds, and the elo- 
quence of a Deming, a Durant, a Hamilton, was 
greeted with tlie same applause tliat it elicits at 
the Xortli. Wlien General Butler appeared in 
public lie was greeted with cheers not less 
hearty nor less unanimous than he has since been 
accustomed to receive nearer liome. Late in 
November he made a public visit to the theater. 
When lie entered the house the audience rose 
and gave him cheer upon cheer, just as in New 
York or Boston. 

The Union party, too, was a growing power. 
Union men now felt that they were on the side 
of the strongest. They knew that no man could 
be anything or eCToct an3^tl)ing, or enjoy anything 
in Louisi:\ua, who was not on the side of his 
country. For Union men there were offices, 
employments, privileges, favors, honors, every- 
thing which a government can bestow. For 
rebels there was mere protection against per- 
sonal violence — mere toleration of their presence ; 
and that onlj' so long as they remained perfectly 
submissive and quiescent. It has been truly 
remarked, that of the three powers of a com- 
munity — the government, the rich and the mul- 
titude — aiij^ two can always overcome the third. 
In New Orleans the government and the mul- 
titude were forming daily a closer union ; and 
the wealthy faction, who had ruined the state, 
were becoming daily more isolated and more 
powerless. 

Meanwhile, the general was urging upon the 
war department the necessity of a larger force, 
that he might employ the cool season in reducing 
Port Hudson and extending the area of conquest 
in otiier directions. He entreated his old friend 
Senator Wilson to use his influence at the war 
department in his behalf The senator's reply 
is curious, when we consider that at the time of 
the interview which it records General Butler's 
successor in the Department of the Gulf had 
appointed twenty-three days. " Your note," said 
Senator Wilson, " was placed in my hand to-day 
(December 2,) and I at once called upon the 
secretary of war, and pressed the importance of 
increasing your force. He agreed with mo and 
promised to do what he could to aid you. lie 
expressed his confidence in you and his approval 
of your vigor and ability. This was gratifying 
to me, but I should have been more pleased to 
have had him order an addition to your force, so 
that you might have a larger field of action. I 
will press the matter all I can." 

Early in December it became well known in 
New Oileans that the government was preparing, 
in the ports of the North, one of those imposing 
expeditions of which so many have sailed on 
mysterious errands during tlio war. Texas was 
supposed to be its object. Texas, I believe, tvas 
its ultimate object. 

In the absence of ofBciai information, and 
supposing his own services approved by the 
government. General Butler was left to infer that 
General Banks was to hold an independent com- 
mand in the department of the Gulf. He feared 
a conflict of authority'. Nor could he regard 
with complacency the coming of another major- 
general to reap the laurels of the field, while he 



himself, after having done the painful and odious 
part of the work, was left still to battle only 
with the sullen, unarmed secessionists of New 
Orleans. Not to embarrass the government, he 
wrote to the president an unofficial letter on the 
subject. 

"I see by the papers," he writes, November 
29th, "that General Banks is about being sent 
into this department with troops, upon an inde- 
pendent expedition and command. This seems 
to imply a want of confidence in the command 
of this department, perhaps deserved, but still 
painful. In my judgment, it will be prejudicial 
to the public service to attempt any expedition 
into Texas without making New Orleans a base 
of supplies and co-operation. To do this there 
must be one head and one deparment. 

" I do not propose to argue the question here ; 
still forther is it from my purpose to suggest even 
that there may not be a better head than the 
one now in the department. I beg leave to 
call your attention, that since I came into the 
field, the day after your first proclamation, I 
have ever been in the frontier line of the rebellion 
— Annapolis, when Washington was threatened; 
Relay House, when Harper's Ferry was being 
evacuated; Baltimore, Fort Monroe, Newport 
News, Ilatteras, Ship Island, and New Orleans. 
It is not for me to say with what meed of success. 
But I have a right to say that I have lived at 
this station exposed, at once, to the pestilence 
and the assassin, for eight months, awaiting re- 
enforccments which the government could not 
give until now. And now they are to be given 
to another. I have never complained. I do not 
now complain. I have done as well as I could 
everything which the government asked me to 
do. I have eaten that which was set before me, 
asking no questions, 

" It is safe for any person to come to New 
Orleans and stay. It has been demonstrated 
that the quarantine can keep away the fever. 
The assassins are overawed or punished. 

" Wli}-, then, am I left here when another is 
sent into the field in this department ? If it is 
because of my disqualification for the service, in 
which I have as long an experience as any 
general in the United States army now in the 
service (being the senior in rank,) I pray you 
say SO; and so far from being even aggrieved, 
I will return to my home, consoled hy the 
reflection, that I have at least done my duty as 
far as endeavor and application go. I am only 
desirous of not being kept where I am not 
needed or desired, and I will relievo the admin- 
istration of all embarrassment. Pray do me the 
favor to reflect that I am not asking for the com- 
mand of any other person ; but, simply, that 
unless the government service require it, that 
my own, which, I have a right to t;ay, has not 
been the least successful of the war, shall not be 
taken from mo in such a manner as to leave me 
all the burden without any of the results. 

" Permit me ahso to say, that toward General 
Bank-s, who is selected to bo the leailer of the 
Texas Expedition, I have none but the kindest 
leelings, ho having been my personal friend for 
years, and still being so. 

'• Writing about my personal affairs, which I 
have never done before, I hardly know how to 
express myself; but what I mean is this : If 
the commander-in-chief find me incompetent (un- 



RECALL. 



159 



faithful I kno'.v lie cannot,) let me be removed, 
and be allowed to meet the issue before him and 
my countiy ; but, as I never do anything by 
indirection myself, all I ask of the president, as 
a just man, is that tlie same course may be taken 
toward mo. 

"Allow me to repeat again, sir, what I have 
before said — although the determination may 
cause my recall — put the department which in- 
cludes Lonifiiana and Texas under one head, and 
it will he best for the service. I pray you, sir, 
not to misundcrstaud me. I have given up 
Bonietbiug for my country, and can give up 
more. And this command is a small matter in 
comparison, in my mind, to my own self-respect, 
or to the good of the service. 

" I do not seek to embarrass the government 
by any action of mine, or in regard to myself 
i'ar from it. I could even take myself away 
rather than do anytliing which would weaken, 
by one ounce, the strength with which the ad- 
ministration should strangle this rebellion." 

It was too late. When this letter was written, 
the fate of the writer had been decided for 
twenty days. The answer to it came by rebel tel- 
egraph to the outlaying camps of the enemy, and 
was brought in by the Union spies ten days, or 
more, before General Banks himself knew his 
destination. It came in the form of a positive 
statement that General Banks was coming to 
New Orleans to supersede General Butler. The 
higher circles of secessionists were so certain of 
the fact that bets were made, in the principal 
club of the city, of a hundred dollars to ten, that 
General Butler would be recalled before the 
end of the year. It now appears, that the 
French Government was first notified of the 
intended change. The news, probably, came 
direct, either from the state department or from 
the French legation. From whatever source it 
was derived, the rebels knew it before it had 
been whispered about Washington. Jeflerson 
Davis knew it before General Banks, tliough 
Davis was at Jackson, in Mississippi, and Gen- 
eral Banks was at Washington. 

General Butler submitted to the inevitable 
stroke with the best possible grace. lie had 
had practice in submission. Had he not been 
recalled from Baltimore for doing his duty too 
well ? Had he not been recalled from Fortress 
Monroe at the moment it had become possible 
to reap the fruit of his most able and arduous 
labors ? 

He gave General Banks a cordial and brilliant 
reception. At Fort Jackson, the arriving gene- 
ral, much to his surprise, was saluted by tiie 
number of guns which, by regulation, announce 
the presence of the commander of the depait- 
ment. At the levee of New Orleans, General 
Butler provided carriages, escort, and a saluting 
battery, and detailed members of his staff to su- 
perintend the arrangements for the iionorable en- 
tertainment of his successor. General Banks 
arrived on Sunday evening, December 14, and 
immediately drove to General Butler's residence, 
where he was received with every honor. He 
had a little billet to deliver, which explained the 
object of his presence in Louisiana with a brevi- 
ty more than Roman ; 



" War Department, Adj't.-Gknkrat.'s Oftiok, 
" Washinoton, Nnvember 9, 1862. 

" General Order No. 184. 

" By direction of the president of the United 
States, Miijor- General Banks is assigned to the 
command of the Department of the Gulf, includ- 
ing the state of Texas. 

By order of the secretary of war, 
"E. D. Thoji.\s, 
Assistant Adjutant- General, 
"H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.'' 

On Tuesday, the sixteenth, the two generals 
met at head-quarters, where General Butler for- 
mally surrendered the command of the depart- 
ment. Each general introduced his staff to the 
staff of the other. General Butler pronounced 
an eulogium upon the character and career of his 
successor, and ordered his staff to extend to him 
and to his officers every facility in their power 
for acquiring the requisite information relating to 
tlie department. The Delta, in chronichng the 
interview, bestowed due commendation upon the 
retiring general, but commended General Banks 
to the people and to the army with equal warmth. 
The Delta of the same day, published the last 
general order of the retiring commander: 

"Heau-qitartkks, Department of the Gulp, 
" New Orleans, December 15, 1862. 

General Order No. 106. 

" Soldiers of the Army of the Gulf: 

" Relieved from farther duties in this Depart- 
ment by direction of tlie president, under date of 
November 9, 1862, I take leave of you by this 
final order, it being impossible to visit your scat- 
tered outposts, covering hundreds of miles of the 
frontier of a larger territory than some of the 
kingdoms of Europe. 

" I greet you, my brave comrades, and say 
ferevrell 1 

" This word, endeared as you are by a com- 
munity of privations, hardships, dangers, victo- 
ries, successes, military and civil, is the only sor- 
rowful thought I have. 

"You have deserved well of your country. 
Without a murmur you sustained an encampment 
on a sand bar, so desolate that banishment to it, 
with every care and comfort possible, has been 
the most dreaded punishment inflicted upon your 
bitterest and most insulting enemies. 

" You had so little transportation, that but a 
handful could advance to compel submission by 
the queen city of the rebellion, whilst others 
waded breast-deep in the marshes which surround 
St. Philip, and forced the surrender of a fort 
deemed impregnable to land attack by the most 
skillful engineers of your country and her 
enemy. 

"At your occupation, order, law, quiet, and 
peace sprang to this city, filled with the 
bravos of all nations, where, for a score of years, 
during the profoundest peace, human hfe was 
scarcely safe at noonday. 

"By your discipline you illustrated the best 
traits of the American soldier, and enchained the 
admiration of those that came to scoff. 

" Landing with a military chest containing but 
seventy-five dollars, from tke hoards of a rebel 
government you have given to your country's 
treasury nearly a half million of dollars, and so 
supplied yourselves with the needs of .vour ser- 



IGO 



EECALL. 



vice that your expedition has cost your govern- 
ment less by four-Ji/tJis than any other. 

" You luivo led the starving poor, the wives 
and children of your enemies, so converting ene- 
mies into friends, that tliey have sent their repre- 
sentatives to your congress, by a vote groater 
than j-our entire numbers, from districts in whicli, 
when you entered, you were tauntingly told that 
there was ' no one to raise your flag.' 

" By your practical philanthropy you have 
won the confidence of the ' oppressed race ' and 
the slave. Hailing you as deliverers, they are 
ready to aid you as willing servants, foithful la- 
borers, or using the tactics taught them by your 
enemies, to fight with you in the field. 

" By steady attention to the laws of health, 
you have stayed the pestilence, and, humble in- 
struments in the hands of God, you have demon- 
strated the necessity that His creatures should 
obey Ilis laws, and, reaping His blessing in this 
most uuliealthy climate, you have preserved your 
ranks fuller than those of any other battalions of 
the same length of service. 

" You have met double numbers of the enemy, 
and defeated him in the open field ; but I need 
not farther enlarge upon this topic. You were 
sent here to do that. 

" I commend you to your commander. You 
are worthy oi his love. 

"Farewell, my comrades! again farewell I 
" Bexj. F. Butler, 
" Major- General Commanding." 

The general immediately prepared for his de- 
parture. As he had received no directions as to 
his future course, he presumed that the place for 
him to retire to was his own home at Lowell. 
" Having received no furtlier orders," he wrote 
to the president, " either to report to the com- 
mander-in-chief, or otherwise, I have taken the 
liberty to suppose that I was permitted to return 
home, my services being no longer needed here. 
1 have given Major-General Bauks all the infor- 
mation in my power, and more than he has asked, 
in relation to the affairs of this department." 

The general's ferewell order to his troops called 
forth many pleasing proofs of the strength of 
their attachment to a commander who, on all oc- 
casions, liad made their cause his own. Among 
the letters uf those last days I find one which, I 
trust, may be printed without impropriety ; 

"Lakki'obt, December 16, 1SG2. 
"Major-General B. F. Butler: 

Sir: — Last summer you had occasion to re- 
primand an officer for an unintentional neglect 
of duty. Your manner and your words sunk 
deep into his memory ; and he always wished 
some opportunity miglit present itself when he 
could evidence by his actions his full appreciation 
of your delicate reproval. I am that officer: 
and, in part, the wished for opportunity came 
when I was ordered hero. I have tried to do 
my duty, and feel that I have done it, because 
my general, for whose command I raised my 
company, who never forgets to censure or to re- 
ward, has not reproved me. 

'• For your kindness to the soldiers you will 
ever be held in lonng remembrance : your past 
services will be remembered by the country, and 
be rewarded. 

" Now that you are to leave us, there can bo 



no want of delicacy in my thus expressing my 
feelings. I say, good fortune attend you. G-ood- 
by, General ; God bless you! 

" I remain, with great regard, yours ever to 
command, " Johx F. Appletox, 

" Capt. Comd'g at Lakeport." 

On the twenty-third, there was a public leave- 
taking, when a great number of officers and citi 
zens gathered rotind the general to bid him fare- 
well. For two hours, a continuous procession 
of his friends passed by where he stood, and 
shook him by the hand. General Banks and 
his officers were- among them. Admiral Far- 
ragut was there, with many officers of the 
fleet. 

It seemed good to the general to say a word 
of larewell to the people of New Orleans. Amid 
the hurry and bustle of his departure, he found 
time to produce a FareweO Address, so grand 
in its truth, wisdom, and simplicity, that it must 
ever be regarded as one of the noblest utterances 
of the time, or of any tune : 

FAREWELL ADDRESS. 

" Citizens op New Orleaxs : — It may not be 
inappropriate, as it is not inopportune in occasion, 
that there should be addressed to you a few 
words at parting, by one whose name is to 
be hereafter indissolubly connected with your 
city. 

" I shall speak in no bitterness, because I am 
not conscious of a single personal animosity. 
Commanding the Army of the Gulf, I found you 
captured, but not surrendered; conquered, but 
not orderly ; relieved from the presence of an 
army, but incapable of taking care of yourselves. 
I restored order, punished crime, opened com- 
merce, brought provisions to your starving 
people, reformed your currency, and gave you 
quiet protection, such as you had not enjoyed 
for many years. 

" "While doing this, my soldiers were subjected 
to obloquy, reproach, and insult. 

" And now, speaking to you, who know the 
truth, I here declare that whoever has quietly 
remained about his business, aflbrding neither 
aid nor comfort to the enemies of the United 
States, has never been interfered with by the 
soldiers of the United States. 

" The men who had assumed to govern you 
and to defend your city in arms having tied, 
some of your women flouted at the presence of 
those who came to protect tiiem. By a simple 
ortler (Xo. 28) I called upon every soldier of 
this army to treat the women of New Orleans as 
gentlemen sliould deal with the sex, with such 
ettect that I now call upon the just-minded 
ladies of Sew Orleans to say whether they have 
ever enjoyed so complete protection and calm 
quiet for themselves and their fomilies as since 
the advent of the United States troops. 

"Tlie enemies of my country, unrepentant and 
implacable, I have treated with merited severity. 
I hold that rebellion is treason, and that treason 
persisted in is death, and any punisimient short 
of that due a traitor gives so much clear gain to 
him from the clemency of the goverumenl. 
Upon this thesis have I administered the authori- 
ty of the United States, because of which I am 



RECALL. 



161 



not unconscious of complaint. I do not feel that 
I have erred in too much harshness, for that 
harshness has ever been exhibited to disloyal 
enemies to my country, and not to loyal friends. 
To be sure, T mijiht have regaled you with the 
amenities of British civilization, and yet been 
within the supposed rules of civilized warfare. 
You might have l)een smoked to death in cav- 
erns, as were the Covenanters of Scotland by the 
command of a general of the royal house of 
England ; or roasted, like the inhabitants of 
Algiers during the French oarapaign ; your wives 
and daughters might have been given over to 
the ravisher, as were the unfortunate dames of 
Spain in the Peninsular war; or you might have 
been scalped and tomahawked as our mothers 
were at Wyoming by the savage allies of Great 
Britain in our own Revolution ; your property 
could have been turned over to indiscriminate 
' loot,' like the palace of the Emperor of China ; 
works of art which adorned your buildings might 
have been sent away, like the paintings of the 
Vatican ; your sons might have been blown 
from the mouths of cannon, like the Sepoys at 
Delhi; and yet all this would have been within 
the rules of civilized warfare as practiced by 
the most polished and the most hypocritical 
nations of Europe. For such acts the records 
of the doings of some of the inhabitants of your 
city toward the friends of the Union, before 
ray coming, were a sufficient provocative and 
justification. 

" But I have not so conducted. On the con- 
trary, the worst punishment inflicted, except for 
criminal acts punishable by every law, has been 
banishment with labor to a barren island, where 
I encamped my own soldiers before marching 
here. 

" It is true, I have levied upon the wealthy 
rebels, and paid out nearly half a million of dol- 
lars to feed 40,000 of the starving poor of all 
nations assembled here, made so by this war. 

" I saw that this rebellion was a war of the 
aristocrats against the middling men — of the 
-rich against the poor ; a war of the land-owner 
iagainst the laborer ; that it was a struggle for 
the retention of power in the hands of the few 
against tlie many ; and I found no conclusion to 
it, save in the subjugation of the few and the 
disinthrallment of the many. I, therefore, felt 
no hesitation in taking the substance of the 
wealthy, who had caused the war, to feed the 
innocent poor, who had suffered by the war. 
And I shall now leave you with the proud con- 
eciousness that I carry with me the blessings of 
the humble and loyal, under the roof of the 
cottage and in the cabin of the slave, and so am 
quite content to incur the sneers of the salon, or 
the curses of the rich. 

" I found you trembling at the terrors of ser- 
vile insurrection. All danger of this I have 
prevented by so treating the slave that he had 
no cause to rebel. 

" I found the dungeon, the chain, and the lash 
your only means of enforcing obedience in your 
servants. I leave them peaceful, laborious, con- 
trolled by the laws of kindness and justice. 

" I have demonstrated that the pestilence can 
be kept from your borders. 

" I have added a million of dollars to your 
wealth in the form of new land from the batture 
of the Mississippi. 



" I have cleansed and improved your streets, 
canals, and public squares, and opened new 
avenues to unoccupied land. 

" I have given you freedom of elections greater 
than ou have ever enjoyed before. 

" I have caused justice to be administered so 
impartially that your own advocates have unani- 
mously complimented the judges of my appoint- 
ment.*' 

" You have seen, therefore, the benefit of the 
laws and justice of the government against which 
you have rebelled. 

"Why, then, will you not all return to your 
allegiance to that government, — not with lip- 
service, but with the heart? 

" I conjure you, if you desire ever to soe re- 
newed prosperity, giving business to your streets 
and wharves — if you hope to see your city be- 
come again the mart of the western world, fed 
by its rivers for more than three thousand miles, 
draining the commerce of a country greater than 
the mind of man hath ever conceived — return to 
your allegiance. 

" If you desire to leave to your children the 
inheritance you received from your fathers — a 
stable constitutional government ; if you desire 
that they should in the future be a portion of the 
greatest empire the sun ever shone upon — re- 
turn to your allegiance. 

" There is but one thing that stands in the 
way. 

" There is but one thing that at this hour 
stands between you and the government — and 
that is slavery. 

" The institution, cursed of God, which has 
taken its last refuge here, in His providence will 
be rooted out as the tares from the wheat, al- 
though the wheat be torn up with it. 

" I have given much thought to this subject. 

"I came among yon, by teachings, by habit of 
mind, by political position, b}' social affinity, in- 
clined to sustain your domestic laws, if by possi- 
bility they might be with safety to the Union. 

" Months of experience and of observation 
have forced the conviction that the existence of 
slavery is incompatible with the safety either of 
yourselves or of the Union. As the system has 
gradually grown to its present huge dimensions, 
it were best if it could be gradually removed ; 
but it is better, far better, that it should be taken 
out at once, than that it should longer vitiate the 
social, political and family relations of your 
country. I am speaking with no philanthropic 
views as regards the slave, but simply of the 
effect of slavery on the master. See for your- 
selves. 

" Look around you and say whether this sad- 
dening, deadening influence has not all but de- 
stroyed the very framework of your society. 

" I am speaking the farewell words of one 
who has shown his devotion to his country at 
the peril of his life and fortune, who in tliese 
words can have neither hope nor interest, save 
the good of those whom he addresses ; and let 
me here repeat, with all the solemnity of an ap- 
peal to Heaven to bear me witness, that such 
are the views forced upon me by experience. 

* Upon the retirement of Major Bell from the bench 
of the provost court, the lawyers and others who had 
attended it presented to the major a valuable eane, ac- 
corapanyins the sift with expressions of esteem and 
gratitude, far more precious than any gift could be. 



162 



RECALL. 



" Come, then, to tho unconditional support of 
the goverument. Tiiko into your own hands your 
own iuslilutions; remodel them according to the 
laws of nations and of God, and thus attain that 
great prosperity assured to you by geographical 
position, only a portion of which was heretofore 
yours." 

" Benjamin F. Butler. 
" New Orleans, Dec. 2iih, 1862." 

Where is there a nobler piece than this ? 
Where one more exactly true? Where one 
more irrefragably wise ? Happy tho land whicli, 
at a crisis of public danger, can summon from 
the walks of private life a man capable, first, of 
doing these things, and then of recoidiug them 
in a strain of such severe and grand simplicity. 
So Ciesar might have written, when Ciesar was 
a patriot. So Napoleon, had Napoleon been a 
citizen of a free country. But they did not. 
The situation was unique, and the piece stands 
alone, above and beyond all the writings of tho 
great soldiers of the world. 

Perhaps I may be pardoned for mentioning 
the effect which its perusal produced upon one 
individual, the reader's most humble and most 
devoted servant and scribe. He had been for 
three years absorbed in writing, or preparing to 
write, a complete biography of tho greatest of 
all Yankees, Benjamin Franklin. Upon reading 
this farewell address, he was drawn irresistibly 
to the conclusion that ho must discontinue that 
fascinating employment for a time, and endeavor 
to inform his fellow-citizens how it had come to 
pass, that a hunker democrat, the Breckinridge 
candidate f(/r the governorship of Massachusetts, 
a voter for Jefferson Davis in the Charleston con- 
vention, had become capable, in the course of 
two years, of writing General Butler's farewell 
address to tho people of New Orleans. 

Another review of General Butler's administra- 
tion has seen the light. It was written by 
Jefferson Davis, who was so considerate as to 
defer its publication until he had every reason to 
suppose that tho general was on his way home. 
It was, in fact, published in Richmond the day 
before General Butler left New Orleans, so that 
he never saw it until his arrival at New York. 
As every one of the short sentences in General 
Butler's address is the simplest statement of a 
fact, so each of tho paragraphs of Jefferson 
Davis's proclamation which relates to General 
Butler's conduct is the distinct utterance of a 
lie. 

a. PROCLAMATION 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE 

STATES. 

***** 

"Now. therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President 
of the Confederate Slates of America, and in 
their name, do pronounce and declare the said 
Benjamin F. Butler to bo a felon, deserving of 
capital punishment. I do order that he shall no 
longer be considered or treated simply as a pub- 
lic enemy of tlie Conlcderate States of America, 
but as an outlaw and common enemy of man- 
kind, and that, in tlie event of his ciipture, tho 
officer in command of tiio capturing force do 
Ciuse him to be immediately executed by hang- 
ing. 



" And I do farther order that no commissioned 
officer of the United States, taken captive, sliall 
bo released on parole, before e.xcliangcd, until 
the said Butler shall have met with duo punish- 
ment for his crimes. 

"And whereas, the hostilities waged against 
this Confederacy by the forces of the United 
States, under the command of said Benjamin P. 
Butler, have borne no resemblance to such war- 
fare as is alone permissible by tho rules of inter- 
national law or the usages of civilization, but 
have been characterized by repeated atrocities 
and outrages, among the large number of which 
the following may be cited as examples ; 

" Peaceful and aged citizens, unresisting cap- 
tives and non-combatants, have been confined at 
hard labor, with hard chains attached to their 
limbs, and are stiil so held, in dungeons and for- 
tresses. 

" Others have been submitted to a like de- 
grading punishment for selling medicines to the 
sick soldiers of the Confederacy. 
^ " The soldiers of the United Stales have been 
invited and encouraged in general orders to in- 
sult and outrage the wives, the mothers, and the 
sisters of our citizens. 

" Helpless women have been torn from their 
homes, and subjected to solitary confinement, 
some in fortresses and prisons, and one especialiy 
on an island of barren sand, under a tropical 
sun ; have been fed with loathsome rations that 
have been condemned as unfit for soldiers, and 
have been exposed to the vilest insults. 

" Prisoners of war, who surrendered to the 
naval forces of the United States, on agreement 
that they should be released on parole, have 
been seized and kept in close confinement. 

" Repeated pretexts have been sought or in- 
vented for plundering the inhabitants of a cap- 
tured city, by fines levied and collected under 
throats of imprisoning recusants at hard labor 
with ball and chain. The entire population of 
New Orleans have been forced to elect between 
starvation by the confiscation of all their prop- 
erty and taking an oath against conscience to 
bear allegiance to the invader of their country. 

" Egress from the city has been refused to 
those whose fortitude withstood the test, and 
even to lone and aged women, and to helpless 
children; and, after being ejected from their 
homes and robbed of their property, they have 
been left to starve in the streets or subsist on 
charity. 

" The slaves have been driven from the planta- 
tions in tho neighborliood of New Orleans until 
their owners would consent to share their crops 
with the commanding general, his brother, An- 
drew J. Butler, and other officers ; and when 
such consent had been extorted, tho slaves have 
been restored to the plantations, and there com- 
pelled to work under tho bayonets of the guards 
of United Stales soldiers. ^Vhere that partner- 
ship was refused, armed expeditions have been 
sent to tho plantations to rob them of everything 
that was susceptible of removal. 

"And even slaves, too aged or infirm for 
work, have, in spite of their entreaties, been 
forced from the homes provided by their owner.", 
and driven to wander helpless on the highway. 

•'By a recent General Order No. 91, the entire 
property in that part of Louisiana west of the 
Mississippi river has boon sequestrated for confis- 



RECALL. 



163 



cation, and ofScers have been assigned to duty, 
■witli orders to gather up and collect the personal 
property, aad turn over to the proper officers, 
upon their receipts, such of said property as may 
be required for the use of the United States 
army ; to collect together all the other personal 
property and bring the same to New Orleans, 
and cause it to be sold at public auction to the 
highest bidders — an order which, if executed, 
condemns to punishment, by starvation, at least 
a quarter of a million of human beiugs, of all 
ages, sexes, and conditions, and of which the 
execution, although forbidden to military officers 
by the orders of President Lincoln, is in accord- 
ance with the confiscation law of our enemies, 
■which he has eflbcted to be enforced through the 
agency of civil officials. 

"And, finally, the African slaves have not 
only been incited to insurrection by every license 
and encouragement, but numbers of them have 
actually been armed for a servile war — a w.ar in 
its nature far exceeding the horrors and most 
merciless atrocities of savages. 

"And whereas, the officers under command of 
the said Butler have been, in many instances, ac- 
tive and zealous agents in the commission of 
these crimes, and no instance is known of the 
refusal of any one of them to participate in the 
outrages above narrated : 

"And whereas, the President of the United 
States has, by public and official declarations, 
signified not only his approval of the effort to 
excite servile war within the Confederacy, but 
his intention to give aid and encouragement 
thereto, if these independent states shall continue 
to refuse submission to a foreign power after the 
1st day of January next, and has thus made 
known that ail appeal to the law of nations, the 
dictates of reason, and the instincts of humanity 
would be addressed in vain to our enemies, and 
that tliey can be deterred from the commission 
of these crimes only by the terrors of just retri- 
bution ; 

" Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, president 
of the Confederate States of America, and acting 
by tlieir authority, appealing to the Divine Judge 
in attestation that their conduct is not guided 
by the passion of revenge, but that they reluc- 
tantly yield to tiie solemn duty of redressing, by 
necessary severity, crimes of which their citizens 
are the victims, do issue this my proclamation, 
and, by virtue of my authority as commander-in- 
chief of the armies of the Confederate States, do 
order — 

" Firbt — That all commissioned officers in the 
command of said Benjamin F. Butler be declared 
not entitled to be considered as soldiers engaged 
in honorable warfare, but as robbers and crimi- 
nals, deserving death ; and that they and each 
of them be, whenever captured, reserved lor 
exeoution. 

" Second — That the private soldiers and non- 
commissioned officers in the army of said Butler 
be considered as only the instruments used for 
the commission of crimes perpetrated by his 
orders, and not as free agents ; that they, there- 
fore, be treated when captured as prisoners of 
■war, with kindness and humanity, and be sent 
home on the usual parole that they will in no 
manner aid or serve the United States in any 
capacity during the continuance of this war, 
unless duly exchanged. 



" Third — That all negro .slaves captured in 
arras be at once delivered over to the e.\;ecutivo 
authorities of the respective states to which they 
belong, to bo dealt with according to the law rf 
said states. 

"Fourth — That the like orders be issued in all 
cases with respect to the commissioned officers 
of the United States when found serving in com- 
pany with said slaves in insurrection against 
the authorities of the different states of this 
Confederacy. 

" In testimony whereof, I have signed these 
presents, and caused the seal of the Confederate 
States of America to be affixed tliereto, at the 
city of Richmond, on the 23d day of December, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty-two. 

" Jefferson Davis. 
"By the President. 

"J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of State." 

All unconscious of this fulmination, General 
Butler engaged passage in an unarmed trans- 
port. On the morning of his departure, Decem- 
ber 24tli, the levee was crowded with a concourse 
of people extremely different in their demeanor 
and their feelings from the angry and tumultu- 
ous throng which howled defiance at him wlien 
he landed on the first of May. He spent his 
last hour with Admiral Farragut on board the 
fiag-ship Hartford, endeared to both of them by 
glorious recollections. "Admiral Farragut is 
one of the men I love," the general frequently 
remarks. He had given the admiral a salute 
when the news came of his promotion to his 
present nobly-won rank in the naval service, 
and the admiral, in acknowledging the honor 
done him, had promised to return the compli- 
ment, with "interest," on the first opportunity. 
So, amid the thunder of the Hartford's great 
guns, mingling with that of a battery on shore, 
and the cheers of a great crowd of soldiers and 
citizens, the general and his family waved fare- 
well to New Orleans. 

On the voyage home, he passed within six 
hours sail of the Alabama — a fact which derives 
some interest from such paragraphs as the fol- 
lowing : 

" Ten Thousand Dollars Reward !-$10,000 ! 
— President Davis having proclaimed Benjamin 
F. Butler, of Massachusetts, to be a felon, deserv- 
ing of capital punishment, for the deliberate 
murder of Wm. B. Mumford, a citizen of the 
Confederate States at New Orleans ; and having 
ordered that the said Benjamin F. Butler be con- 
sidered or ti'eated as an outlaw and common 
enemy of mankind, and that, in the event of his 
capture, the officer in command of the capturing 
force do cause him to be immediately executed 
by hanging, the undersigned hereby ofi'ers a re- 
ward of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for the 
capture and delivery of the said Benjamin F. 
Butler, dead or alive, to any proper Confederate 
authority. 

" Richard Yeadon. 

"Charleston, S. C, January 1." 

" A daughter of South Carolina writes to the 
Charleston Courier from Darlington District : 

"'I propose to spin the thread to make the 
cord to execute the order of our noble president, 



164 



AT HOME. 



Davis, when old Butler is caught, and my 
daughter asks that she may bo allowed to ad- 
just it around his neck.' " 

After the departure of General Butler from 
New Orleans, his successor gave a fair trial to the 
policy of conciliation. Its failure was immediate, 
complete, and undeniable. "These southern 
peoiile, " remarks an English writer who went 
to New Orleans with Oencral Banks, "with 
their oriental civilization and institution, cherish 
something of the eastern impression tliat kind- 
ness and conciliation imply weakness, originating 
in a fear of inflicting punishment. They hated 
Butler and feared him; now the more foolish 
sort hope for a certain amount of impunity to 
tlie treason yet latent among them." General 
Banks was obliged to abandon the attempt to 
win tiie enemies of his country by soft words 
and lenient measures. The testimony of notori- 
ous and unquestionable flicts has shown the 
country, that, in so far as General Banks has 
adopted the policy of his predecessor, his admin- 
istration of the Department of the Gulf has been 
successful, and that, in so far as he has essen- 
tially departed from that policy, his administra- 
tion has been a failure. I had collected a great 
deal of evidence on this point, but as every 
witness tells tlie same story, and the facts are 
familiar to most of us, I will not increase the 
magnitude of this too portly volume by detailing 
it. The Iron Hand, and that alone, till slavery 
is everywhere abolished, will keep down the 
insolent and remorseless faction who have 
brought such woful and wide-spread ruin upon 
the southern states. Slavery dead, the bitter- 
ness of that faction is as harmless as a cooing 
dove. Jefferson Davis, representing /ree Missis- 
sippi, would be innoxious in the Senate itselt; 
To kill slavery is to extract the poison from the 
laugs of all those deadly foes of their country 
and their kind. Till that is done, there is no 
safety but in the iron rule. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



And why was he recalled from the Depart- 
ment of the Gulf? It was natural that the 
general himself shotild feel some curiosity 
upon this subject. His curiosity has not been 
gratified. 

Upon reaching New York, ho found a letter 
from the president, requesting his presence at 
Wasliington. He was received by all the mem- 
bers of tlie government with the cordiality and 
consideration due to his eminent services. He 
asked the president the reason of his recall, and 
tiie president referred hun to the secretary of 
state and the secretary of war, who, he said, had 
recommended the measure. The general then 
turned to ilr. Stanton. Mr. Stanton replied, 
that the reason was one whicti did not imply, 
on the part of the government, any want of 
confidence in his honor as a man, or in his ability 
as a commander. 

" Well," said the general, " you havo now told 
me what I was not recalled for. I now ask you 
to tell me what I was recalled for." 



" Tou and I," answered Mr. Stanton, laugln'ng, 
" are both lawyers, and it is of no use your 
tiling a bill of discovery upon me, for I shan't 
tell you." 

And that is all the explanation which the gov- 
ernment has vouchsafed to him. We are justi- 
fied, however, in concluding, that he was re- 
called lor the purpose of conciliating the French 
government, which had expressed disapproval 
of his course toward the '" foreign neutrals " of 
Louisiana. 

General Butler's claim to be the senior major- 
general chanced to become a subject of conver- 
sation at the "White House on this occasion. 
Without having bestowed much thought on the 
matter, he had innocently taken it for granted 
that a major-general, who had won his rank and 
received his commission several weeks before 
any other major-general had been appointed, 
must necessarily be the senior major-general. 
" The president," as he afterward remarked in 
the formal statement of his claim, requested by 
the secretary of war, " has power to do many 
things ; but it has been said that even ' an act of 
parliament could not make one's uncle his aunt.' 
How then can the president make a junior offi- 
cer a senior officer in the same grade ? I grant 
that the president can put the junior in command 
of the senior, but it took an act of congress to 
enable the president to do that. But lliere is no 
act of congress which has or can settle seniority 
of rank otherwise than the almanac, taking note 
of the lapse of time, has settled it." 

The president said that he knew nothing about 
the duties of the several commissions. 

"I only know," said he, "that I gave you 
your commission the first of anybody." 

The board of officers, to whom the question 
was referred, decided that the president was not 
bound by the almanac in dating commissions, 
and could make a junior senior if he pleased. 
Consequently, General ilcClellau, General Fre- 
mont, General Dix, and General Banks, all of 
whom were appointed many weeks after General 
Butler, take rank before him. This is a small 
matter, hardly worth mentioning. It is merely 
one instance more of the systematic snubbing 
with which one of the very few men of hrst-rate 
executive ability in the public service has been 
rewarded. 

In conversing with the president upou the ne- 
gro question, the general said that if it was con- 
sidered necessary to abolitiouize the whole army, 
it was only necessary to give each corps a turn 
of service in the extreme south, where as Gene- 
ral Phelps remarked, the institution exists "in 
all its and pride gloom." 

It is worthy of note, that the only members 
of the diplomatic corps at Washington, who 
called upou the general, were the Russian min- 
ister, and the representative of the free city of 
Bremen. The friends and the foes of the United 
States, also the " neutral " powers, appear to 
havo an instinctive perception of the fact, that 
General Butler is the Union Cause incarnate. 

The people, I need not say, gave the returning 
general a reception that left no doubt in his mind 
that Ids labors in the southwest were understood 
and appreciated by his fellow-citizens. Balti- 
more, Washington, New York, Boston, Lowell, 
Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Portland, have 
each received him with every circumstance 



AT HOME. 



165 



wbicli could enhance Iho dignity or the eclat of 
an honorable welcome. 

Or, to use the language of the Richmond Ex- 
aminer : 

"After inflicting innumerable tortures upon 
an innocent and unarmed people; after outrag- 
ing the sensibilities of civilized humanity by his 
brutal treatment of women and children; after 
placing bayonets in the hands of slaves ; after 
peculation the most prodigious, and lies the most 
infamous, he returns, reeking witii crime, to his 
own people, and they receive him with acclama- 
tions of joy in a manner that befits him and be- 
comes Ihem8c4ves. Nothing is out of keeping; his 
whole career and its rewards are strictly artistic 
in conception and in execution. He was a thief 
A sword that he had stolen from a woman — the 
niece of the brave Twiggs — was presented to 
him as a reward of valor. He had violated the 
laws of God and man. The law-makers of the 
United States voted him thanks, and the preach- 
ers of the Yankee gospel of blood came to him 
and worshiped him. He had broken into the 
safes and strong boxes of merchants. Tiie New 
York Chamber of Commerce gave him a dinner. 
He had insulted women. Things in female at- 
tire lavished harlot smiles upon liim. He was a 
murderer, and a nation of assassins have deitied 
him. He is at this time the representative man 
of a people lost to all shame, to all humanity, all 
honor, all virtue, all manhood. Cowards by na- 
ture, thieves upon principle, and assassins at 
heart, it would be marvelous, indeed, if tlie 
people of the North refused to render homage to 
Benjamin Butler — the beastliest, bloodiest pol- 
troon and pickpocket the world ever saw. " 

Or, to borrow the words of the New York 
World: 

" The warm applause with which he was 
greeted by a great public assembly in this 
Christian city, is a phenomenon as shocking to a 
cultivated moral sense as the mode of propagat- 
ing religion in ages wheh the rack and the stake 
were approved means of grace. This discredit- 
able applause is a new testimony to the barbar- 
izing effects of civil war. It exemplifies the 
rude logic of violent passions, which, assuming 
a sacred end for its premises, infers that any 
means are justifiable for its attainment." 

Or we might quote the comments of the Lon- 
don Times, since there is the most perfect accord 
on this subject between rebels, peace democrats 
and foreign neutrals. 

Perhaps, however, the reader may incline to 
the opinion of the hundred merchants of Now 
York, as expressed in their letter inviting the 
general to a public dinner : 

"They share with you the conviction that 
there is no middle or neutral ground between 
loyalty and treason ; that traitors against the 
government forfeit all rights of protection and of 
properly ; that those who persist in armed re- 
bellion, or aid it less openly but not less effect- 
ively, must be put down and kept down by the 
strong hand of power and by the use of all right- 
ful means, and that so far as may be, the suffer- 
ings of the poor and misguided, caused by the 
rebellion, should be visited upon the authors of 
their calamities. We have seen, with approba- 
tion, that in applying these principles, amidst 
the peculiar difficulties and embarrassments inci- 
dent to your administration in your recent com- 



mand, you have had the sagacity to devise, the 
will to execute, and the courage to enforce the 
measures which they demanded, and we rejoice 
at the success which has vindicated the wisdom 
and the justice of your official course. In thus 
congratulating you upon these results, we be- 
lieve that we express the feeling of all those who 
most earnestly desire the speedy restoration of 
the Union in its full integrity and power." 

The public dinner was declined. "I too well 
know," replied the general, "the revulsion of 
feeling with which the soldier in the field, oc- 
cupying the trenches, pacing the sentinel's weary 
path in the blazing heat, or watching from his 
cold bivouac the stars shut out by the drenching 
cloud, hears of feasting and merry-making at 
home by those who ought to bear his hardships 
with him, and the bitterness with which ho 
speaks of those who, thus engaged, are wearing 
his uniform. Upon the scorching sand, and 
under the brain-trying sun of the gulf coast, I 
have too much shared that feeling to add one 
pang, however slight, to the discomfort which my 
tellow-soldiers suffer, doing the duties of the 
camp and field, by my own act, while separated 
momentarily from them by the exigencies of the 
public service." 

Not the less did the city of New York respond 
to the sentiments of the merchants' letter. The 
scene at the Academy of Music, on the evening 
of the 2d of April, 18G3, when General Butler 
advanced to the front of the stage, will never be 
forgotten by the j'oungest person who witnessed 
it. The house was crowded to the remotest 
standing-place of the amphitheater. The im- 
mense stage was filled with the citizens of whom 
New York is proudest. When the general ap- 
peared, the audience sprang to their teet, and 
gave, not three cheers, nor three times three and 
one cheer more, but a unanimous, long-sustained 
roar of cheers, with a universal waving of hats 
and handkerchiefs. Several minutes elapsed 
before silence was restored. General Butler 
spoke for two hours, interrupted at every other 
sentence with enthusiastic applause. At Boston, 
in old Faneuil Hall, he could not escape from 
the crowd till he had shaken three thousand 
hands. 

Since the return of General Butler to the 
North, he has, on all occasions, public and pri- 
vate, given to the administration a most hearty 
and unwavering support. 

" The present government," he said, in his 
speech of April 2d, at New York, " was not the 
government of my choice. I did not vote for it, 
nor for anj"- part of it; but it is the government 
of my country ; it is the only organ by which I 
can exert the force of the country to protect its 
integrity ; and as long as I believe that govern- 
ment to be honestly administered, I will throw 
a mantle over any mistakes that I think it has 
made, and support it heartily, with hand and 
purse, so help me God 1 I have no loyalty to 
any man or men. My loydlty is to the govern- 
ment ; and it makes no difierence to me wlio the 
people have chosen to administer the govern- 
ment. So long as the choice has been constitu- 
tionally made, and the persons so chosen hold 
their places and powers, I am a traitor and a 
false man if I falter in my support. This is what 
I understand to be loyalty to a government." 
Perhaps a few sentences and paragraphs from 



166 



AT HOME. 



General BuUer's recent spoochcs may bo in place 
hero, to indicate his present opinions upon the 
momentous issues upon wliich tlio people are 
called, from time to time, to express tlieir judg- 
ment. 



" I think I may say that the principal mem- 
bers of my staff, and the prominent officers of 
my regiments, without any exception, went out 
to New Orleans hunker democrats of the hunker- 
est sort ; for it was but natural that I should 
draw around me those whose views were simi- 
lar to my own ; and every individual of the 
number has come to precisely the same belief on 
the question of slavery, as I put forth in my fare- 
well address to the people of New Orleans. 
This change came about from seeing what all of 
them saw, day by day. In this war the entire 
property of the South is against us, because 
almost the entire property of the South is bound 
up in that institution. Tliis is a well-known 
fact, probably ; but I did not become fully aware 
of it until I had spent seme time in New Orleans. 
The South has $163,000,000 of taxable property 
in slaves, and $103,000,000 in all other kinds of 
property. And this was the cause why the 
merchants of New Orleans had not remained 
loyal. They found themselves ruined — all their 
property being loaned upon planters' notes, and 
mortgages upon plantations and slaves, all of 
which property is now worthless. Again I 
learned, what I did not know before, that this is 
not a rebellion against us, but simply a rebellion 
to perpetuate power in the hands of a few slave- 
holders. At first I did not believe that slavery 
was the cause of the rebellion, but attributed it 
to Davis, Slidell, and others, who had brought it 
about to make political triumphs by which to 
regain their former ascendency. The rebellion 
is against the humble and poorer classes ; and 
there were in the South largo numbers of secret 
societies dealing in cabalistic signs, organized for 
the purpose of perpetuating the power of the 
rich over the poor. It was feared that these 
common people would come into power, and that 
three or four hundred thousand men could not 
hold out against eight millions. The first move- 
ment of these men was to make land the basis 
of political power, and that was not enough, for 
land could not bo owned by many persons. 
Then they annexed land to slaves, and divided 
the property into movable and immovable. 

" I am not generally accused of being a hu- 
manitarian — at least, not by my southern friends. 
"When I saw the utter demoralization of the 
people, resulting from slavery, it struck me that 
it was an institution which should be thrust out 
of the Union. I had, on reading Mrs. Stowo's 
book — Uncle Tom's Cabin — believed it to bo an 
overdrawn, highly- wrought picture of southern 
life ; but I have seen with my own eyes, and 
heard with my own ears, many things which go 
beyond her book, as much as her book does be- 
j'ond an ordinary school-girl's novel. 

* * * * * 

" Yes, no right-minded man could be scut to 
Now Orleans without returning an unconditional 
anti-slavery man, even though the roof of the 
houses were not taken off, and the full extent 
of the corruption exposed. 



" The war can only bo successfully prosecuted 
by the destruction of slavery, which was made 
the corner-stone of the confederacy. This is the 
second time in the history of the world that a 
rebellion of property-holders against tho lower 
classes and against the government was ever 
carried on. The Hungarian rebellion was one of 
that kind, and that failed, as must every rebel- 
lion of men of property against government and 
against the rights of the many. One of the 
greatest arguments which I can find against 
slavery is the demoralizing influences it exerts 
upon the lower white classes, who were brought 
into secession by the hundred because they 
ignorantly supposed that great wrong wa.s to be 
done them by the Lincoln government, as they 
termed it, if the North succeeded. Therefore, if 
you meet an old hunker democrat, and send him 
for sixty days to New Orleans, and he comes 
back a hunker still, he is merely incorrigible. 
There is one thing about the president's edict of 
emancipation to which I would call attention. 
In Louisiana he had excepted from freedom 
about eighty-seven thousand slaves. These 
comprise all the negroes held in the Lafourche 
district, who have been emancipated already for 
some time under tho law which frees slaves 
taken in rebellious territory by our armies. 
Others of tlieso negroes had been freed by the 
proclamation of September, which declared all 
slaves to be free whose owners should be in 
arms on the first of January. The slaves of 
Frenchmen were free because the Code Civile 
expressly prohibits a Frenchman from hold- 
ing slaves, and, by the 7th and 8th Victoria, 
every Englishman holding slaves subjects him- 
self to a penalty of $500 for each. Now, take 
the negroes of secessionists. Frenchmen and 
Englishmen out of the eighty-seven thousand, 
and tho number is reduced to an infinitesimal 
portion of those excepted. This foct came to my 
knowledge from having required everj' inhabi- 
tant in the city to register his nationality. After 
all these names had fiiirl}' been registered, I ex- 
plained these laws to the English and French 
consuls, and thus replied to demands which 
had been made by English and French residents 
of Louisiana upon the government for slaves 
alleged to have been seized."* 

THE WAR DEBT. 

" A question has been a thousand times asked 
me since I arrived home, how is this great war 
debt to be paid ? That speaks to the material 
interests, llow can we ever bo able to pay this 
war debt? Who can pay it? Who shall pay 
it ? Shall we tax the coming generations ? 
Shall we overtax ourselves ? For one — and I 
speak as a citizen to citizens — I think I can seo 
clearly a way in which this great expense can 
bo paid by those who ought to pay it, and be 
borne by those who ought to bear it. Let us 
bring the South into subjection to the Union. 
We have offered them equality. If they choose 
it, let them have it. But, at all events, they 
must come under the power of tho Union. And 
when once this war is closed by that subjuga- 
tion, if you please, if necessary, then the in- 



* Speech at Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, Jan. 8, 
1863. 



AT HOME. 



167 



creased productions of tlie great staples of the 
South, cotton and tobacco — with which wo 
OTaght, and can, and shall supply the world — this 
increased production, by the immigration of 
white men into the South, where labor shall be 
honorable as it is hero, will pay the debt. With 
the millions of hogsheads of tlie one, and the 
millions of bales of the other, and with a proper 
internal tax, which shall be paid by England 
and France, who have largely caused this mis- 
chief, this debt will be paid. Without stopping 
to be didactic or to discuss principles here, let 
us examine this matter for a moment. Tliey are 
willing to pay fifty and sixty cents a pound for 
cotton ; the past has demonstmted that even by 
the uneconomical use of slave labor, it can be 
profitably raised — ay, profitably beyond all con- 
ception of agricultural profit here — at ten cents 
a pound. A simple impost of ten cents a pound, 
which will increase it to twenty cents only, will 
pay the interest of a war debt double what it is 
to-day. And that cotton can be more profitably 
raised under free labor than under slave labor, 
no man who has examined the subject doubts. 
By the Imposition of this tax those men who 
fitted out the Alabama and sent her forth to 
prey upon our commerce, will be compelled by 
the laws of trade and the laws of nations to pay 
for the mischief they have done. So that when 
we look around in this country, which has just 
begun to put forth her strength, because no 
country has ever come to her full strength until 
her institutions have proved themselves strong 
enough to govern the country against the will, 
even the voluntary will of the people — when 
this government, which has now demonstrated 
itself to be the strongest government in the 
world, puts forth her strength as to men, and 
when this country of ours, richer and more 
abundant in its harvests and in its productions 
than any other country on earth, puts forth her 
riches, we have a streug-th in men, we have an 
amount in money, to battle the world for liberty, 
and for the freedom to do, in the borders of the 
United States and on the continent of America, 
that which God, when he sent us forth as a mis- 
sionary nation, intended we should do. So, 
allow me to return your words of congratulation 
and your words of welcome, with words of good 
cheer. Be of good cheer! God gave us this 
continent to civilize and to free, as an example 
to the nations of the earth ; and if He has struck 
us in His wrath, because we have halted in oar 
work, let us begin again and go on, not doubt- 
ing that we shall have His blessing to the end. 
Be, therefore, I say, of good cheer; there can 
be no doubt of this issue. We feel the struggle ; 
wo feel what it costs to carry on this war. Go 
with me to Louisiana — go with me to the South, 
and you shall see what it costs our enemies to 
carry on this war ; and you will have no doubt, 
as I have none, of the result of this unhappy 
strife, out of which the nation shall come stronger, 
better, purified, North and South — better than 
ever before."* 

NO da:^ger from the army. 

" There never has been any division of sen- 
timent in the army itself They havo always 



* Speech at Boston, Jan. 13, 1863. 



boon for the Union unconditionally, for the gov- 
erruneut and the laws at any and all timea 
And who are this army ? Are they men differ- 
ent from us ? Not at all. I see some here that 
have come back fi'om the army, and are now 
waiting to recover their health to go back and 
join that army. Are they to be any different 
on the banks of the Potomac, or in the marshes 
of Louisiana, or struggling with the turbid cur- 
rent of the Mississippi than thoy are here ? Are 
our sons, our brothers, to have different thoughts 
and diflercnt feelings from us, simply because to- 
day ihey wear blue and to-morrow they wear 
black, or to-day they wear black and to-morrow 
they wear blue ? Not at all. They are from 
us, they are of us, they are with us. The same 
love of liberty, ay, and you will pardon me for 
saying it, a little more love for the Union, have 
caused them to go out than has actuated those 
who have stayed behind. The same desire to 
see the constitution restored has sent them out 
tliat animates us ; the same love of good govern- 
ment, the same faith in this great experiment of 
freedom and free government that actuates us 
actuates them, and there need be no trouble, it 
seems to me, in the mind of any man upon the 
question of what is the army to do. There need 
bo no fears. I have seen men, too, good, virtu- 
ous, candid, upright, patriotic mea, who seem 
to feel this great increase of th« army to be 
somewhat dangerous to our liberties. Is the 
army to take away their own liberties? is the 
army to destroy their own country ? is the army 
to do anything that patriotic men won't do? 
Oh, no ; they answer with universal accord upon 
that subject. Then where is the danger men 
see ? Why, in the olden time, at the head of 
large armies, somo ambitious man, some ambi- 
tious military leader, gets the control of the 
army and destroys the liberty of the country ; 
but the difficulty is, the examples of the nations 
of the whole world are by no means analogies 
for this. No general of the old world ever com- 
manded such an Sivmy ; no general of the old 
world ever had such a country ; no general of 
the old world ever had such a government to 
fight for, to fight with, to fight under, or will 
have ever and #br ever ; and no general of the 
old world, no general thus far on the face of the 
earth ever was in a country, where, by elevating 
his countrj' first, last, and all the time, he might 
more surely elevate himself But we do not de- 
pend upon either the patriotism, or the ability, 
or the prudence, or the courage of any one man ; 
we dejiend upon the courage, the patriotism, 
and the intelligence of this half million of men 
in the army who know that the place to regulate 
government aflairs is in the ballot-box, and who, 
as long as they can get matters regulated, and 
can have fair play through the ballot-box, will 
go home and be much more ready to use the 
ballot-box than the cartridge-box. 

" Therefore, I say to you, sir, let no man have 
fear on this subject. There are no better friends 
of free institutions, there are no more intelligent, 
no truer men and citizens at home and in peace 
than in the army of the United States."* 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

" I am not for the Union as it was. I have 
• Speech at Boston, April, 1863. 



168 



AT HOME. 



the honor to say, as a democrat, and an Andrew 
Jackson democrat, I am not for the Union to be 
again ns it was. Understiiud me, I was for the 
Union as it was, because I saw, or thought I 
saw, the troubles in the future vvliich have burst 
upon us; but having undergone tlioso troubles, 
having spent all this blood and this treasure, I 
do not mean to go back again and be cheek to 
jowl, as I was before with South Carolina, if I 
can help it. Mark uie now; let no man misun- 
derstand me ; and I repeat, lest I may be mis- 
understood (for there are none so difficult to 
understand as those that don't want to) — mark 
mo again, I say, I do not mean to give up a 
single incli of the soil of South Carolina. If I 
had been living at tliat lime, and h;id the position, 
the will, and the ability. I would have dealt 
with South Carolina as Jackson did, and kept 
her in the Union at all hazards ; but now she 
has gone out, and I will take care that when she 
comes in again she will come in better behaved ; 
that she shall no longer be the fire-brand of the 
Union, ay, that she shall enjoy what her people 
never yet enjoyed, the blessings of a republican 
form of government. And, therefore, in that 
view I am not for the reconstruction of the 
Union as it was. I have spent treasure and 
blood enough upon it, in conjunction with my 
fellow-citizens, to make it a little better, and I 
think wo can have a better Union. It was good 
enough if it had been let alone. The old house 
was good enough for me, but the South pulled 
it down, and I propose, when we build it up, to 
build it up with all the modern improvements. 
Another one of the logical sequences, it seems 
to me, that follow inexorably, and is not to be 
shunned, from the proposition that we are deal- 
ing with alien enemies, what is our duty with 
regard to the confiscation of their property ? 
And that would seem to me to be very easy of 
settlement under the constitution, and without 
any discussion, if my first proposition is right. 
Hasn't it been held from the beginning of the 
world down to this day, from the time the 
Israelites took possession of the land of Canaan, 
which they got fcom alien enemies, hasn't it been 
held that the whole of the property, of those 
alien enemies belongs to the conqueror, and that 
it has been at his mercy and his clemency what 
should be done with it? And for one, I would 
take it and give' it to the loyal man, who was 
loyal from the heart, at the South, enough to 
make him as well olf as he was before, and I would 
take the balance of it and distribute it among the 
volunteer soldiers who have gone forth in the 
service of their country ; and so far as I know 
them, if we should settle South Carolina with 
them, in the course of a few years I should bo 
quite willing to receive her back into the Union."* 

ARMING THE NEGROES. 

" If these men are alien enemies, is there any 
objection that you know of^ and if so state it, to 
our arming one portion of that foreign country 
against the other, while they are fighting us ? 
Suppose we were at war with England, who 
here would get up in New York and say we 
must not arm the Irish, lest they should hurt 
some Englishman ? Well, at one time, not very 
far gone, all those Englishmen were our grand- 
Speech at New York, April 2, 1S63. 



fathers' brothers. Either they or we erred ; but 
we are now separate nations, arising out of the 
contest. So again I .say, if you will look carefully 
you will see that there can be no objection for 
another reason. There is no law, either of war 
or of international law, or law of governmental 
action that I know ol^ which prevents a country 
arming any portion of its citizens or its subjects 
for the defense of that portion, or of any other, 
and they become (if tliey do not take part with 
those rebels) simply our citizens, residing upoa 
our territory, which at the present hour is usurped 
by our enemies. At this moment, and in the 
waning hour, I do not propose to discuss, more 
than to hint at these various subjects. But 
there is one question that I have been so often 
asked, that I want to make an answer to, once 
for all, and when I have answered it to every- 
body, nobody will ask me again, and that is this 
(and most frequently am I asked that question 
by my old democratic friends) : • Why, General 
Butler, what is your experience? Will the 
negroes fight? To that I have to answer, that 
upon that subject I have no personal experience. 
I left the Departmeut of the Gulf before they 
were fairly brought into action ; but they did 
fight under Jackson at Chalmette. More than 
that, I will bring in some other man to answer 
that question. Let Napoleon III. answer it, 
who has hired them to do what the veterans of 
the Crimea can not do — to whip the Mexicans. I 
will answer it in another form. Let the veterans 
of Napoleon the First, under his brother-in-law, 
Le Clerc, who were whipped out of St. Domingo 
by them, tell whether they will fight or not. 
I will ask you to remember it in another form 
still. What has been the demorahzing eflfect 
upon them as a race by their contact with the 
white man, I know not; but I cannot forget 
that they and their fathers would not have been 
slaves except they were captives of war in their 
own countries?, in hand to hand fights among the 
several chiefs, and were sold into slavery because 
they were captives in war. They would fight 
at some time, and if you want to know any more 
about it, I can only advise you to try them."* 

TECE QUESTION BEFORE TJS. 

" No Union man wants to abrogate the old 
constitution. It is good enough. The only 
question is, how can we take back an abscond- 
ing member of the firm under the old articles of 
agreement."! 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The speciality of General Butler is this: He 
is a great achiever. He is the victorious kind of 
man. He is that combination of qualities and 
powers which is most potent in bringing things 
to pa.ss. Upon reviewing his life, we find that 
he has been signally successful in the under- 
takings which have seriously tasked his powers. 

A good example of his ready adaptation of 
means to ends, has just been related to rae by 



* Speech (it New York, April, 1863. 

t Speech at Uarrisburg, September, 1S63. 



SUMMARY. 



IGO 



one of his legal friends. A. wealthy corporation 
in New England refused to pay for a bridge, on 
the ground tliat the contractor had been a few 
days behind the stipulated time in completing it. 
General Butler was retained on behalf of the con- 
tractor. Aware that he really had no case, 
though the delay in finishing the bridge was 
abundantly excusable, he brought the cause to 
the bar of public opinion. In other words, he 
iold the story to every man and group of men 
whom chance threw in his way. He caused 
endless paragraphs upon the subject to be in- 
serted in the newspapers. The bridge was just- 
ly commended as a most admirable piece of 
work, and remarks were appended upon the soul- 
lessness of a corporation, which could avail itself 
of the letter of a contract to deprive a fellow- 
citizen of the reward of his labors. In a word, 
he enlisted the feelings and the judgment of the 
whole community on the side of the contractor, 
and thus shamed the corporation into a compro- 
mise. You may call this, if you please, au illegiti- 
mate mode of proceeding for a learned advocate. 
It remains true, nevertheless, that the plan 
adopted answered the end proposed, and that 
tlie end proposed was justice. 

It may be profitable to inquire what is the 
secet of General Butler's success. 

Brains. That is a great part of the secret. 
This man has understood the matter. He has 
been able to grasp the situation at all times, and 
to know what the situation required at all times. 
From the hour when he shook hands with Jef- 
ferson Davis, in December, 1860, to the present 
moment, he has never been groping in the dark, 
or feelhig his way to a policy. And his opinion, 
generally scouted at the moment, has always 
been justified by the progress of events. He 
was right in getting Massachusetts ready to 
march. He took the right road to Washington. 
He was right in regarding Fortress Monroe as 
the base against Richmond. The flash of in- 
spiration which pronounced the negroes contra- 
Ij^nd of war, was right. Each step in the pro- 
gress of his mind upon the negro question was 
right at the time and in the circumstances. 
That single suggestion of a board to decide upon 
the fitness of officers, was worth all he has re- 
ceived from the government. His order, making 
officers pay for the pillage committed by their 
men, was another masterly stroke. Better still, 
perhaps, it would be to make the whole regiment 
responsible — privates as well as officers. At 
New Orleans, he was magnificently right, both 
in theory and in practice. Every day brought < 
forth some new proof of the fertility of his mind 
— of his genius for governing. That policy of 
isolating, crippling, and destroying the malig- 
nants, and of raising in the scale of being the 
laboring multitude, white, black, or yellow, is the 
only policy which can ever make the country 
A. NATION, homogeneous, united, powerful and 
free. No man has, no man can, point out 
another path to permanent reconstruction. To 
dethrone the false king. Minority, and to crown 
in his stead the true king, Majority — that was 
the scheme attempted in Louisiana. But one 
thing is wanting to its complete success — the 
total abolition of slavery, which constitutes the 
power of the ruling faction, and keeps in hea- 
thenish bondage every poor man in the South, 
whatever his color. 



General Butler, on the other liand, is no 
dreamer or theorizer. Dreamers and Iheorizers 
are good and helpful ; but he is not one of 
them. His forte is to devise expedients, to 
meet a new state of things, or to effect a special 
purpose. He is singularly happy in framing a 
measure, on the spur of the moment, which pre- 
cisely answers the end proposed, and works 
good in many directions not specially contem- 
plated. His plan for feeding the poor of New 
Orleans, for example, besides effecting the main 
purpose of saving thousands from starvation, 
brought home to the authors of their ruin a part 
of the ill-consequences of their conduct, and 
chimed in with his general policy of suppressmg 
one class and raising another. 

Brains are the great secret. He is endowed 
with a large, healthy, active, instructed, ex- 
perienced brain — Heaven's best gift, and the 
medium through which all other good gifts are 
given. 

Courage, will, firmness, nerve — call it what 
you will — General Butler has it. He has not 
been called to face the leaden rain and iron hail 
of battle ; but he has exhibited on every occa- 
sion the courage which the occasion required. 
He has shown a singular insensibility to the 
phantoms which play so important a part in war. 
He has shown the courage to go forward and 
meet the imaginary danger, as well as the real. 
He has the courage of opinion — so rare in a re- 
public where public men all want the favor of 
the many. He dares accept the remote con- 
sequences of a policy. He dares to take the 
regjjonsibility. He dares to incur obloquy. He 
dares to tell the truth, and all the truth. I ven- 
ture to declare, that in the many thousand pages 
of his writings as an officer of the government, 
there is not one intentional misstatement or un- 
fair suppression. Falsehood is the natural re- 
sort of timidity. A brave man does not lie, and 
need not. 

Honesty. "With opportunities of irregular 
gain, such as no other man has had since the 
days of Warren Hastings, his hands are spotless. 
He could have made a safe half million by a 
wink ; and, if he had done so, he would have 
come home with a peculiar and marked reputa- 
tion for integrity; because then he would have 
had an interest to create such a reputation, and 
could not have indulged the noble carelessness 
with regard to his good name which is the 
privilege of a man strong in conscious rectitude. 
The fact that so able a man is accused of 
corruption, is itself a kind of proof of his 
honesty. 

Humor. The happy word is part of the art 
of governing. There is apt to be a fund of humor 
in good victorious men, which enables them to 
get the laugh of mankind on their side. Would 
Lord Palmerston ever have been premier of Eng- 
land without his jokes, or Mr. Lincoln president 
of the United States unless he had first over- 
spread acres of prairie mass-meetings with a 
grin ? The point, humor and vivacity of Gene- 
ral Butler's utterances have been an element of 
his success in the service of his country. 

Faith. " After our return to the North," says 
one of the general's staff, " an ex-mayor of Chi- 
cago was introduced to the general at the St. 
Nicholas Hotel in New York. It was just at a 
time when our cause looked very gloomy. The 



170 



SUMMARY. 



mayor was evidently much depressed by the in- 
dications of national misfortune, and in a tone of 
great despondency asked the general — 

'"Do you believe vro shall ever get through 
this war successfully ? 

" ' Yes, sir,' the general answered, very de- 
cidedly. 

" ' Well, but how?' asked the mayor. 

" 'God knows, I don't ; but I know Ho does, 
RO I am satisfied,' the general replied.* I have 
often heard him reply thus to anxious questioners. 

" 'Wo ought to march through,' he once said ; 
'but wo shan't; I'm afraid wo shall orAj tumble 
throuQ:]i. No matter; we shall get through some- 
how.' " 

Humanity. The papers relating to our gene- 
ral's military career teem with evidence that he 
is a kind, considerate man. He governed his 
soldiers strictly, but always so as to promote 
their best interests. He was lenient and forgiv- 
ing toward offenses of inadvertence, or such as 
betrayed only a weakness or infirmity of nature. 
He was generous to tho poor. He was solicitous 
to bestow honor where it was due. He was in- 
genious in devising ways of procuring promotion 
to deserving ofiBcers. He sympathized with the 
anxiety of parents for their sons in the army, 
and assuaged many a bleeding heart by tho kind 
fhougbtfulness with which ill news was broken 
to them. 

Courtesy. Tho etiquette of his position was 
most puuctiliou.sly observed ; not more so to- 
ward admirals and general ofBccrs than boy lieu- 
tenants and private soldiers. To tho enemies of 
his country he could be a roaring lion or a 
growling bear. The men of his command and 
.snd tho loyal citizens of his department enjoyed 
the satisfaction of knowing that their general 
was a gentleman. No littleness toward other 
commanders; only gratitude and admiration for 
the Farraguts, tho Grants, the Rosecranses, the 
Meades. and all the other heroes of the war. 



Atlantic Monthly, July, 1868. 



Con.sideration, too, for the many able and well- 
intentioned men who have been less successful. 

Patriotism. No man should bo praised for 
loving his country, any more than for loving his 
mother. If the country is lost, wo are all lost. 
If tho country is disgraced, we all hang our 
heads in shame. To love one's country is apart 
of our natural and proper self-love. But if there 
is one man who has gone along more entirely 
than he with his country in this great struggle 
to preserve its life; if there is one man who has 
taken the great cause more deeply to heart, or 
striven with a purer aim to do his part in the 
mighty and holy work, he must, indeed, be the 
very model of a pure and burning patriot. Let 
none of u.s, however, claim for himself or for an- 
other any pre-eminence in patriotism. In this 
alone wo are all agreed, that if it takes as long 
to restore the country as it took the Spaniards to 
expel the Moors from Spain (800 years), the 
work is to be done. If the treasury is bankrupt, 
no matter, it is to be done. If we have to make 
twenty truces, still it is to be done. If we pause, 
it will be only to renew the strife as soon as we 
have taken breath. 

Brains without courage may be a delusion and 
a snare. To have courage without brains is to 
be a human bull-dog. Brains and valor without 
experience in human affairs, without knowledge 
of the world and mankind, will often lead a man 
far astray. Brains, valor and experience united, 
still require the honest heart, the lofty aim. And 
even all these are ineffective iu times like these, 
unless there is also an enormous capacity for la- 
bor. But when a man presents himself to view 
who possesses a fertile genius, courage, know- 
ledge, experience, patriotism and honesty, with 
a soundness of bodily constitution that gives him 
the complete use of all his powers, a country 
must be rich indeed in able men, if it can afford, 
at a time of public danger, to dispense with his 
services. The country will not dispense with 
them willingly. 



APPENDICES. 



THE ALSTON AND REED DUEL. 

A gentleman obliges me with some additional 
particulars of this bloody affair, and corrects 
some errors in my narrative of it : 

"I arrived in Tallahassee," he writes, "the 
day after the duel, and found it to be the only 
topic of conversation. I was well acquainted 
with Reed's second (Capt. J. B. G-uion, U. S. A., 
a Mlssissippian), and heard all the particulars of 
the duel from him. These you have cjiven with 
great accuracy, until near the close there comes 
an error. Reed was uninjured, as you say, and 
he then took a quiet, deliberate aim at Alston, 
and fired at the word " fire" — as cool a murder 
as ever was committed. It was justified by his 
friends, on the ground that the terms of the duel 
were such that one of them had to be killed be- 
fore they left the ground, and that it would have 
been very silly in Reed to give Alston a second 
chance. The second act of the drama occurred 
a week or two after, for Willis Alston was in 
Texas, and came thence after hearing of his bro- 
ther's death. I was taking tea at the hotel in 
Tallahassee ; the room was crowded, and while 
all were eating we were startled by a pistol 
shot, and a ball went just over my head, and 
lodged in the wall ; it was followed by a second 
shot, and a general rush of the company took 
place. Tbis is what had happened: Alston was 
sitting at the table near the door, when Reed 
entered and was passing up. Alston stood up 
and called Reed by name, and, as he turned, 
fired and ran aivay. Reed drew his pistol, fol- 
lowed him to the door, and fired without hitting, 
when Alston immediately ran back at him and 
with a bowie knife ripped him entirely open. I saw 
Reed's wound myself, and how he ever survived 
it is a wonder. Alston, supposing he had killed 
Reed, cleared out and went back to Texas. 
Reed recovered, and it was soine months aficr- 
warcls that Alston came back to complete his 
work. He was as cowardly as he was riaffianly, 
and did not dare to face Reed in a street fight. 
He was in a store in the main street of Tallahas- 
see when Reed passed by, and, stepping to the 
door, he fired the contents of a double-barrelled 
gun into Reed's back. He was arrested and 
confined in jail to save him from being " lynched," 
for public opinion was at that time on Reed's 
side, and probably the people did not so much 
mind the killing as the manner ; they did not 
like the shooting in the back, it wasn't a fair 
fight. He escaped from prison, dressed in his 
mother's clothes, and got off to Texas, where he 
was killed as you describe. 

" I was in and about Tallahassee all the time 
which embraced these events, and knew the de- 



tails very perfectly at tho time. Many o) them 
I have forgotten, but such as I have here .jiven 
you are correct." 



II. 



Order issued hy General Butler at Fortress Monroe 
relative to the Negroes in the Department of 
Virginia and North Carolina. 

IIbad Qitartkrs 18th Army Corps, 
Department of Virginia and North Carolina, 
Fort Monroe, Va., Dccamber 5, 186S. 

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 46. 

The recruitment of colored troops has become 
the settled purpose of the Government. It is 
therefore the duty of every officer and soldier to 
aid in carying out that purpose, by every proper 
means, irrespective of personal predilection. To 
do this effectually, the former condition of the 
blacks, their change of relation, the new rights 
acquired by them, the new obligations imposed 
upon them, the dntyof tlie government to them, 
the great stake they have in the war, and the 
claims their ignorance, and the helplessness 
of their women and children, make upon each of 
us, who hold a higher grade in social and political 
life, must all be carefully considered. 

It will also be taken into account that the 
colored soldiers have none of the machinery of 
"state aid" for the support of their families while 
fighting their battles, so Uberally provided for the 
white soldiers, nor the generous bounties given 
by the state and national governments in the 
loyal states — although this last is far more than 
compensated to tlie black man by the great 
boon awarded to him, the result of the war — 
Freedom for himself and ms race forever 1 

To deal with these several aspects of this 
subject, so that as few of the negroes as possible 
shall become chargeable either upon the bounty 
of government or the charities of the benevolent, 
and at the same time to do justice to those who 
shall enlist, to encourage enlistment, and to 
cause all capable of working to employ them- 
selves for their support, and that of their families, 
either in arms or other service, and that the 
rights of negroes and the government may both 
be protected, it is ordered : 

I. In this department, after the first day of 
December, instant, and until otherwise ordered, 
every able bodied colored man who shall enlist 
and be mustered into the service of the United 
States for three years or during the war, shall be 
paid as bounty, to supply his immediate wants, 
tho sum of ten (10) dollars. And it shall be the 
duty of each mustering officer to return to these 
head-quarters duplicate rolls of recruits so en- 
listed and mustered into the service, on the 10th, 



172 



APPENDICES. 



20th and last days of each month, so that the 
bounty may bo promptly paid and accounted for. 

II. To the family of each colored soldier so 
enlisted and mustered, so long as ho shall remain 
in the service and behave well, shall be furnished 
suitable subsistence, under the direcliou of the su- 
perintendents of negro aflairs, or their assistants ; 
and each soldier shall be furnished with a cer- 
tificate of subsistence for his family, as soon as 
he is mustered; and any soldier deserting, or 
■whose pay and allowances are forfeited by court- 
martial, shall bo reported by his captain to the 
superintendent of the district where his family 
lives, and the subsistence may be stopped — 
provided that such subsistence shall be continued 
for at least six mouths to the family of any 
colored soldier who shall die in the service by 
disease, wounds or battle. 

III. I'^very enlisted colored man shall have 
the same uniform, clothing, arms, equipments, 
camp equipage, rations, medical and hospital 
treatment as are furnished to the United States 
soldiers of a like arm of the service, unless, upon 
request, some modification thereof shall be 
granted from these head-quarters. 

IV. The pay of the colored soldiers shall be 
ten (10) dollars per month — three of which may 
be retained for clothing. But the non-commis- 
sioned oflicers, whether colored or white, shall 
have the same addition to their pay as other non- 
commissioned officers. It is, however, hoped 
and believed by the commanding general, that 
Congress, as an act of justice, will increase the 
pay of the colored troops to a uniform rate with 
other troops of the United States, He can see 
no reason why a colored soldier should be asked 
to fight upon less pay than any other. The 
colored man fills an equal space in ranks while 
lie lives, and an equal grave when he falls. 

V. It appears by returns from the several 
recruiting officers that enlistments are discour- 
aged, and the government is competing against 
itseKj becau.se of the pa^-ment of sums larger 
than the pay of the colored soldiers to the 
colored employees in the several staff" depart- 
ments, and that, too, while the charities of the 
government and individuals are supporting the 
families of the laboref. It is furlher ordtred : 
That no officer or other person on behalf of the 
government, or to be paid by the government, on 
land in this department, shall employ or hire 
any colored man for a greater rale of wages 
than ten dollars per month, or the pay of a 

, colored soldier and rations, or fifteen dollars per 
month without rations, except that mechanics 
and skilled laborers may be employed at <other 
rates — regard being had, however, to the paj' of 
the soldier in fixing such rates. 

Y\. The best use during the war for an able- 
bodied colored man, as well for himself and the 
country, is to be a soldier ; it is therefore further 
ordered : That no colored man, between the 
ages of eigltteen and forty-five, who can pass the 
surgeon's examination for a soldier, shall be 
employed on land by any person in behalf of the 
government — (mechanics and skilled laborers 
alone excepted.) And it shall bo the duty of 
each ofiicer or other person employing colored 
labor in this department to bo paid b\- or on 
behalf of the government, to cause each laborer 
to bo examined by the surgeons detailed to ex- 
amine colored recruits, who shall furnish the 



laborer with a certificate of disability or ability, 
as the case may be, and after the first day of 
January next, no employment rolls of colored 
laborers will be certified or passed at these head- 
quarters wherein this order has not been com- 
plied with, and which are not vouched for by such 
certificate of disability of the employees. And 
whenever hereafier a colored emfiloyeo of the 
government shall not be paid wiliiiu sixty days 
after his wages shall become due ami payable, 
the officer or other person having the funds to 
make such payment, shall be dismissed the 
service, subject to the approval of the president. 

VII. Promptness of payment of labor, and the 
facilities furnished by the government and the 
benevolent, will enable colored laborers in the 
service of the government to be supported from 
the proceeds of their labor : Therefore no sub- 
sistence will be furnished to the families of those 
employed by the government at labor, but the 
Superintendent of Negro Affairs may issue sub- 
sistence to those so employed, and charge the 
amount against their wages, and furnish the 
officer in charge of payment of such laborers 
with the amounts so issued, on the first day of 
each month, or be himself chargeable with the 
amount so issued. 

VIII. Political freedom rightly defined is 
liberty to work, and to be protected in the full 
enjoyment of the fruits of labor ; and no one 
with ability to work should enjoy the fruits of 
another's labor: Therefore, no subsistence will 
bo permitted to any negro or his family, with 
whom he lives, who is able to work and does 
not -work. It is, therefore, the duty of the Su- 
perintendent of Negro Aflairs to furnish employ- 
ment to all the negroes able to labor, and see 
that their families are supplied with the neces- 
saries of life. Any negro that refuses to work 
when able, and neglects his familj-, will be 
arrested and reported to these head-quarters, to 
be sent to labor on the fortifications, where he 
will be made to work. No negro will be required 
to labor on the Sabbath, unless upon the most 
urgent necessity. 

IX. The commanding general is informed that 
officers and soldiers in the department have, by 
impressment and force, compelled the labor of. 
negroes, sometimes for private use, and often 
without any imperative necessity. 

Negroes have rights so long as they fulfill their 
duties : Therefore it is ordered, that no officer or 
soldier shall impress or force to labor for any 
private purpose whatever, any negro ; and negro 
labor shall not be impressed or forced for. any 
public purpose, unless under orders from these 
liead-quarters, or because of imperative military 
necessity, and where the labor of white citizens 
would be compelled, if present. And any 
orders of any officer compelling any labor by 
negroes or white citizens shall be forthwith re- 
ported to these head-quarters, and the reasons 
which called for the necessity for such order, be 
fully set forth. 

In case of a necessity compelling negro or 
white labor for the purpose of building fortifica- 
tions, bridges, roads, or aiding transportation or 
other military purpose, it shall be the duty of the 
superintendent of negroes in that district, to 
cause employment rolls to be made of those so 
compelled to labor, and to present said rolls, as 
soon as the necessity ceases, to the assistant 



APPENDICES. 



173 



quartermaster of the district, tliat the laborers 
may be paid ; and the superintendent sliall see 
lliat those that labor shall have proper sub- 
sistence, and may draw from the Commissary of 
Subsistence rations therefor. Any officer offend- 
ing willfully against the provisions of this order, 
will be dismissed the service, subject to the ap- 
proval of the President. 

And no negro shall be impressed into military 
service of the United States, except under orders 
from these head-quarters — by a draft, which shall 
equall}' apply to the white and colored citizen. 

X. The theory upon which negroes are re- 
ceived into the Union lines, and employed, 
either as laborers or soldiers, is tliat every negro 
able to work who leaves the rebel lines, dimin- 
ishes by so much the producing power of the 
rebellion to supply itself with food and labor ue- 
cessary to be done outside of military operatious, 
to sustain its armies ; and the United States 
thereby gains either a soldier or a producer. 
"Women and children are received, because it 
would be manifestly iniquitous and unjust to 
take the husband and father and leave the wife 
and child to ill-treatment and starvation. "Wo- 
men and children are also received when unac- 
companied by the husband and father, because 
the negro has the domestic affections in as strong 
a degree as the white man, and however far 
South his master may drive him, he will sooner 
or later return to his family. 

Therefore ii is ordered : That every officer and 
soldier of this command shall aid by every means 
in his power, the coming of all colored people 
within the Union lines: that all officers com- 
manding expeditions and raids shall bring in 
with them ail the negroes possible, affording 
them transportation, aid, protection and en- 
couragement. Any officer bringing or admitting 
negroes within his lines shall forthwith report 
the same to the Superintendent of Negro Affairs 
within his district, so that they may bo cared for 
and protected, enlisted, or set to work. Any 
ofiicer, soldier or citizen who shall dissuade, 
hinder, prevent, or endeavor to hinder or pre- 
vent any negro from coming within the Union 
lines; or shall dissuade, hinder, prevent, or en- 
deavor to 2:)revent or hinder any negro from en- 
listing ; or who shall insult, abuse, ridicule or 
interfere with, for the purpose of casting ridicule 
or contempt upon colored troops, or individual 
soldiers, because they are colored, shall be 
deemed to be, and held liable under the several 
acts of Congress applicable to this subject, and 
be punished with military severity for obstruct- 
ing recruiting. 

XI. In consideration of the ignorance and 
helplessness of the negroes, arising from the 
condition in which they have been heretofore 
held, it becomes necessary that the government 
should exercise more and peculiar care and pro- 
tection over them than over its white citizens, 
accustomed to self-control and self-support, so 
that their sustenance may be assured, their 
rights respected, their helplessness protected, 
and their wrongs redressed ; and that there be 
one system of management of negro affairs. 

It is ordered, That Lieutenant-Colonel J. Eurn- 
ham Kinsman, A. D. C, be detailed at these 
head-quarters, as General Superintendent of 
Negro Affairs in this department, to whom all 
reports and communications relating thereto, 



required to be sent to these head-quarters, shall 
be addressed. He shall have a general superin- 
tendence over all the colored people of this de- 
partment ; and all other Superintendents of 
Negro Affairs shah report to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Kinsman, who is acting for the commanding 
general in this behalf 

All the territory of Virginia south of the James 
River, shall be under the superintendence of 
Captain Orlando Brown, assistant quartermaster. 
All the territory north of James River shall be 
under the superintendence of Captain Charles B. 
Wilder, assistant quartermaster. Tlio district of 
North Carolina shall be under the superinten- 
dence of the Reverend Horace James, chaplain. 

Each superintendent shall have the power to 
select and appoint such assistant superintendents 
for such sub-districts in his district as may be 
necessary, to be approved by tho commanding 
general ; such appointments to bo couhrmed by 
the commanding general. 

The pay of such assistant, if a civilian, shall iu 
no case exceed the pay of a first class clerk in 
the quartermaster's department. 

It shall be the duty of each superintendent, 
under the direction of the general superintendent, 
to take care of the colored inhabitants of his dis- 
trict, not slaves, under the actual control of a 
loyal master in his district ; (and in all questions 
arising as to freedom or slavery of any colored 
person, the presumption shall be that the man, 
woman or child is free or has claimed protection 
of the military authorities of the United States, 
which entitles the claimant to freedom;) to cause 
an accurate census to be taken of colored in- 
habitants iu his district, and their employments ; 
to cause all to be provided with necessary 
shelter, clothing, food and medicines. To see 
that all able to work shall have some employ- 
ment, and that such employment shall be indus- 
triously pursued ; to see that in all contracts for 
labor or other things made by the negroes with 
white persons, the negro is not defrauded, and 
to annul all contracts made by the negro which 
are unconscionable and injurious, and that such 
contracts as are fulfilled by the negro shall be 
paid ; to take charge of all lands and all prop- 
erty allotted, turned over, or given to the use of 
the negroes, whether by government or by 
charity ; to keep accurate accounts of the same, 
and of all expenditure ; to audit all accounts of 
the negroes against government, and to have all 
proper allowances made as well to the negro as 
the government ; and to have all claims put in 
train for payment by the government ; to keep 
accurate accounts of all expenses of the negro to 
the government, and of his earnings for the gov- 
ernment ; to see that the negroes who have 
wrought on land furnished by the government 
on shares, shall have their just portion, and to 
aid in disposing of the same for tho best good of 
the negro and government ; and to make quar- 
terly returns and exhibits of all accounts of mat- 
ters committed to them ; and to hold all moneys 
arising from the surplus earnings of the negro 
over the expenditures by the United States, for 
the use and benefit of the negroes, under orders 
from these head-quarters. 

XIL It appearing to the commanding general 
that some of the labor done by the negroes in this 
department remains unpaid — some for the space 
of more than two years, although contracts were 



174 



APPENDICES. 



duly made by tlie proper officers of the govern- 
ment for t.',io p lymont thereof — whereby the faith 
of tlio negro in tlio justice of tlio government is 
impaired, and the trast in its protection is 
weakened, it is ordered, that each superintendent 
shall bo a commissioner, to audit all such ac- 
counts, procure evidence of their validity, make 
out accurate pny-roUs, and return the same, so 
that they may bo presented for adjustment to the 
proper departments. Provided, however, that 
no sale of any such claim against the govern- 
ment shall be valid, and no payment shall be 
made of any such claim, except in hand to the 
person actually earning it — if he is within this 
department — or to his legal representative, if the 
person earning it bo deceased. 

XIII. Religious, benevolent and humane per- 
sons have come into this department for the 
charitable purpose of giving to the negroes secu- 
lar and religious instructions; and this, too, 
without any adequate pay or material reward. 
It is, therefore, ordered, that every officer and 
soldier shall treat all such persons with the ut- 
most respect; shall aid them by all proper 
means, in their laudable avocations ; and that 
transportation be furnished them, whenever it 
may be necessary in pursuit of their business. 

XIV. As it is necessary to preserve uniformity 
of system, and that information shall bo had 
as to the needs and the supplies for the negro ; 
and as certain authorizations are had to raise 
troops in the Department, a practice has grown 
up of corresponding directly with the War and 
other Departments of the Government, to the 
jnaiQilest injury of the service. — It is, therefore, 



ordered, that all correspondence in relation to 
the raising or recruitment of colored troaps, and 
relating to the care and control of the negroes 
in this Department, with any official organized 
body or society, or any Department or Bureau 
of the Government, must be transmitted through 
these Head Quarters, a.s by regulation all other 
Military correspondence is required to bo done. 

XV. Courts Martial and Courts of Inquiry in 
relation to all offenses committed by, or against 
any of the colored troops, or any person in the 
service of the United States connected with the 
care, or serving with the colored troops, shall 
have a majority of its members composed of 
members in command of colored troops, when 
such can be detailed without manifest injury to 
the service. 

All offenses by citizens against the negroes, or 
by the negroes against citizens — except of a high 
and aggravated nature — shall be heard and tried 
before the Provost Court. 

XVI. Tills order shall be published, and fur- 
nished to each regiment and detached post within 
the Department — a copy for every commanding 
officer thereof, — and every commander of a com- 
pany, or detachment less than a company, shall 
cause the same to be read once, at least, to his 
company or detachment ; and this order shall be 
printed for the information of the citizens, once, 
at least, in each newspaper published in the De- 
partment. By command of 

Majok-General Butler. 
R, S. Datis, Major and AssH Adft Gen. 



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